Recipe: BLT Salad... in a Jar!

You may have seen this idea on other websites, even on Pinterest, but seriously... this is the BEST idea ever! 

Picture this... it's lunch time and you brought a salad to enjoy on your lunch break. Only to find out some idiot used the salad dressing you put in the fridge or even worse... you decided to add the dressing to your salad and it's SOGGY! Noooooooooooo!!!!!!

The solution... put it in a jar!

 

This seem like one of those solutions that should of been easy to figure out on your own. But lets face it, you saw it for the first time on here or some other website and went "duh!".

Now, salad in a jar is super simple to do and you can do it with ay type of salad os long as you follow this basic principle.

Recipe: Apple Pie Baked Pancakes

If there is one meal of the day I love to cook, it's breakfast. I don't know why, but I could be happy eating breakfast food for every meal for the rest of me life. Yum!

One of my recent creations are these pancakes. I like them because you bake them in your oven so you have to time to make coffee and other items while it bakes. What else is nice, is that it doesn't take many ingredients. And there is a good chance you have them all, right now, in a basic pantry. Which means you can make this right now if you want!

What you need:

1/2 cup Milk

1/2 cup Flour

3 Eggs

1/4 cup of Butter

1 Apple

a sprinkle of cinnamon

a sprinkle of brown sugar

Recipe: Feel Better Soup

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't been posting too much in the past few days. I am currently battling an epic cold. I've been down for the count for 3 days now, unable to breathe out of my nose. However, today I have some energy & desire to share with you all how I've been managing these past few days. So I'm sharing with you my recipe for a soup that will guarantee to open up those nasal passages!

This recipe makes two servings, so put it in a big tupperware container so you can munch on it as you feel like.

You'll Need:

3 cups of chicken broth

1 jalapeno sliced

handful of bean sprouts

sliced green onions

rice noodles

1 1/2 lb. ground turkey or chicken

soy sauce

onion seasoning or garlic

Recipe: Spinach, Feta, and Turkey Burgers

If there is one thing in the world that I love, it's a good burger. It's always an added bonus if I can make it a healthy burger that actually tastes good. So I give you my personal recipe for my turkey burgers. I'm warning you, they are super easy and super yummy!

What You'll Need:

1lb to a 1.25lb of Ground Turkey

About 1/2 bag of Chopped Baby Spinach

2oz container of Feta Cheese

Recipe: Killer Tomato Bagel Sandwich

So yes, I know that I missed this weeks Thursday Night Unwind. But you know what... it's ok because there is gonna be a great band featured next Thursday! Besides, I was busy getting some sleep because I was going to be awake from 6:30am on Friday to 5:00am on Saturday... that's almost 23 hours! And this little lady need some rest or I wouldn't have enjoyed my trip to Chicago! So to make up for it, I'm going to share with you all one of my favorite things to make.

This is a really refreshing and simple sandwich that is great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack!

What you need:
A Bagel
Some Cucumber Slices
Some Roma Tomato Slices
Whipped Cream Cheese (any kind will do, I used plain!)
Fresh Basil (1 large leaf should do)
Some sort of toasting device

Optional Ingredients (based on variations I've made of this sandwich):
Bacon
Red Onion Slices
Spinach

Recipe: Instant Hot Cocoa Mix

A few days ago I posted up a recipe for instant vanilla chai tea mix. On the website that I found that recipe on was also a recipe for instant hot cocoa mix! It sounded so yumy that I decided to gift that to people as well. I originally found the recipe over on momadvice.com. It sounded yummy and I decided to make it for everyone! The only problem I had with her recipe is it didn't really say how much it makes.

So this recipe makes 4 quart sized jars.

Ingredients:
8 cups nonfat dry milk powder
3 cups sugar
2 cup non-dairy coffee creamer
1 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 (4 ounce) packages instant chocolate fudge pudding

Recipe: Instant Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

This is something that is great to have on hand for those cold winter nights, but it also makes a great gift! In fact, this is one of the many gifts I mad this year. I originally found the recipe over on momadvice.com. It sounded yummy and I decided to make it for everyone! The only problem I had with her recipe is it didn't really say how much it makes.

So this recipe makes 4 quart sized jars.

Ingredients:

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

2 cups powdered non-dairy creamer

2 cups French vanilla powdered non-dairy creamer

5 cups white sugar

3 cups unsweetened instant tea

4 tsp ground ginger

4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp white pepper

Thursday Night Unwind

We have made it to another Thursday! And not to mention we are getting closer and closer to Christmas! I actually took tomorrow off so I have more of a weekend to finish up some Christmas presents. So I'm spending my evening watching some Doctor Who, and drinking a dirty martini. By the way, making a dirty martini is super simple. here, check out this video if you feel like indulging:

Yum! But onto the music now that you've got your drinks (or are dreaming of one). Tonight I'm going to share a new indulgence with you. A band I recently stumble across called iron & Wine. They are pretty chill, so they go great with a martini. First up is their song called  Boy with a Coin:

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies

So this is the time of year for baking, and you know what my favorite thing to bake is? Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, lately I noticed that my chocolate chip cookies were missing something. You know what they were missing? BACON. You just have to trust me on this one and dive in and try them.These cookies are really soft, and to tell you the truth, if you are scared of the bacon you can leave it out, although I wouldn't recommend it!

Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies

Ingredients: 

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar (for the cookies)
2 cups brown sugar (for the bacon)

1/2 cup white sugar

2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla

pudding mix

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 packages worth of caramelized bacon (see directions below) (also, when I made these with the bacon I only used one package of bacon, still good, but it totally needed more bacon. Two packages worth should be perfect!)

Recipe: Green Smoothies

Recently I have acquired a single serving blender for making smoothies. This morning I was inspired to use it seeing as I'm up way earlier than I should be. If you want to know more about green smoothies and their health benefits you should check out http://greensmoothiesblog.com/. This lady has a lot of valuable information as well as tons of recipes! Making a green smoothie is really simple. It's basically greens + fruit!
Here's what I made this morning:

Recipe: Zuppa Toscana Soup

Do you like the Olive gardens never ending soup, salad, and bread stick days? I do! And you know what soup I always order? The Zuppa Toscana Soup. and you know what else? I know how to make a version of it that is just as good as what you get at Olive Garden. So I'm going to share it with you!

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches Kale, Picked Over, Cleaned, And Torn Into Bite Sized Pieces
• 12 whole Red Potatoes, Sliced Thin
• 1 whole Onion, Chopped
• 1-1/2 pound Italian Sausage
• 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (more To Taste)
• 2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 4 cups Half-and-half
• Splash Of Heavy Cream
• Fresh Or Dried Oregano 
• Black Pepper To Taste

Recipe: Roast Cornish Hens with Sage and Garlic

So instead of doing a turkey for Thanksgiving this year, we opted for cornish hens. They are smaller and easier to deal with when you don't have enough people to eat an entire turkey. Plus, I eat turkey all year round. after much searching I found this wonderful recipe on Saveur.com. Unfortunately it was for a whole chicken. So I modified it for the cornish hens. Basically I just used 5 cornish hens in place of 1 bird and followed he recipe from there. Pretty easy!

Ingredients:

5 Cornish hens or a 4lb chicken
1 lemon
22 fresh sage leaves
3 cloves garlic
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
Kosher salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
Ground black pepper, to taste
8 sprigs parsley
2 small onions, quartered
4 carrots, cut into 2" pieces

Recipe: Spanakopita Bites

Tis the season for good food, family, and friends. And to start that out this Thanksgiving I'm going to be sharing some of the recipes of what's going on at my house. Now, while you have your turkeys or ham (or cornish hens in my case) cooking in the oven, your guests are going to need something to munch on in the mean time. So this is what I made to day to keep the rumbling bellies at bay. Spanakopita bites!

I originally found the recipe at What's Cooking Chicago. It said to use mini cupcake pans, but I used a regular cupcake pan and they were still awesome!

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach. thawed and squeezed dry (I used a bag of fresh spinach chopped and it still turned out good)
4 to 6 ounces domestic feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound phyllo, thawed
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), melted
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Recipe: Cheeseburger Soup

I found this super yummy recipe while looking around at stuff on Pinterest (love that site!). I made a few modifications to the recipe since the one complaint that most people had about this recipe was the lack of flavor. You can view the original recipe here on Taste of Home. Now my version, let's be honest here... WAS AMAZING! It definitely wasn't lacking flavor! So here is my version of the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground sirloin (you can use ground beef too, but the better the meat, the better the flavor)

1 small or medium chopped white onion 

3/4 cup shredded carrots

3 stalks celery chopped

1 1/2 tsp dried basil

1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

1 large clove of garlic diced

4 tbls butter (divided)

4 cups chicken broth or stock

1 3/4 lbs diced or sliced baby red potatoes (you can peel them if you like, but I left the skins on)

1/4 cup flour or arrowroot powder or cornstarch (this is the thickening agent so use whatever you or have on hand, I used arrowroot powder)

3 cups shredded cheese (you can again use whatever you want. I went with a sharp cheddar, but really any type of strong flavored melty cheese would be good in this)

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup sour cream

Salt & Pepper (however much you want)

Recipe: Winter Root Vegetable Soup

The other day my friend gave me a whole bunch of root vegetables. I love vegetables! And I knew right away that I wanted to make a soup out of them. Now, most recipes that involve root vegetables in a soup involve making a puree out of them (yuk!). I decided that wouldn't happen to them wonderful veggie. So I made up my own soup recipe. It turned out pretty good too!

Ingredients: 

4 cloves of garlic minced

2 shallots chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 carrots chopped

4 small turnips chopped

3 beets cubed

1 onion chopped

1 sweet potato cubed

1 regular potato cubed

5 cups broth (I used a veggie broth made out of Better than Bouillon)

1 cup water

Salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp oregano

Recipe: Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Wreath

I decided this morning, since it's Sunday, that I need to make something yummy for breakfast. So i turned to my favorite cookbook, the internet! And I found this lovely post by Bacon Time With The Hungry Hungry Hypo. After reading through that post, I decided I could make this as well, just with more bacon, more cheese, and more eggs. Simple & tasty? Yes please!

Ingredients:

1 can of croissants (8 count)

6 Large Eggs

A crap ton of shredded cheese. You can use whatever kinda of cheese you want. I used a 2 year old cheddar per the request of my boyfriend.

Bacon, bacon, and more bacon. You can't put a limit on bacon. I used a package of precooked bacon so I wouldn't need to cook that too.

DIY: Make Your Own Deodorant

My latest all natural experiment is making my own deodorant. I found this recipe while dinking around on Pintrest a few weeks ago and decided to give it a shot. I've been wearing my homemade deodorant all day so far, and guess what... I'm still dry under the arms and I still smell fresh! Well, actually I smell kinda like coconuts and oranges which is still yummy! I found the cute ceramic jar at St. Vincent DePaul (my favorite thrift store). I wanted something that had a screw on lid but looked nice sitting on a counter. 

Anyways... on to the recipe so you all can make your own! Now, I didn't come up with this recipe. But you can check out the original creator of it at How About Orange. 

Recipe: Cheesey Bacon Ranch Pulls

So I have the house to myself tonight and I'm doing it up right. I've candles going, archer on tv, some vino and then something wonderful baking in the oven. I wish I could take the credit for this recipe, but I can't because Plain Chicken figured it out first!

Ummm YUMMY! This is a super simple recipe and cheap recipe at that. It's good for slumber parties, game day, parties, or when you are home alone drinking wine & playing video games.

Recipe: Super Simple & Delicious Acorn Squash

What a beautiful fall day for some oven roasted squash. This is my favorite way to eat squash. This is a super yummy and super simple recipe to make. People who don't like squash tend to actually like this recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Acorn Squash (halved & seeded)

2 teaspoons butter

2 tablespoons apricot or apple preserves

2 tablespoons brown sugar

DIY: Chemical Free Living

I've been thinking about going chemical free for a while now, and as of late I have actually been researching it! I've found ways to make your own deodorant, going shampoo & conditioner free, natural cleaning products, homemade face cleansers, even how to make you own hair spray. So I'm going to share all of that with you today!

First up, how to make your own cleaners. I've found so many recipes and great ideas. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites, but give you some good links to where I got the recipes as well!