Top Five: Quotes Edition #4

 

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I have spoken about my love of quotes several times and I share five of my favorite quotes every two months or so. Here are the quotes that have been on my mind most recently...

ONE

Music for Monday: An Oldie but a Goodie

 

I often refer to a song as 'old' and my mom laughs at me because, I guess, old is relative. This song came out in 2002 - does that make a song old? When is it ok to really refer to a song as old? In 2002, I was in first grade and I was likely not listening to Maroon 5! I came to know this song a little more recently and it will always be a favorite of mine! 

Friday Favorites

How is this already the last Friday Favorites of January!? I can't believe how fast this month flew buy! I've started to count down to Spring Break and I am getting so excited! I can't wait to get leave all of this snow for the beach - is it too soon to start packing? I love packing for trips, maybe I'll share some of my tricks as I actually start packing (because I don't really start this early!!). But for now, here are my favorites for this week...

1. In December September (because I start planning for Christmas THAT early), I shared my love for this online store:

Hairbow Supplies etc. sells all sorts of crafting supplies to make hair accessories. I get all of the ribbon to make the Bean's bows through Hairbow supplies etc. and this year I ordered some of their colored elastic to make hair elastics. I made hair elastics that look like these:

Saltine Toffee

This Saltine Toffee could not be easier to throw together and you only really need four ingredients! I found the recipe on Dessert for Two & you can find the original recipe HERE.

Start by covering a baking sheet with tinfoil.

Cover the baking sheet with saltine crackers, with the salt side down. The original recipe recommends using a baking sheet that fits 6x4 crackers, mine fit 5x8 crackers and it worked out fine - I do suggest staying within that cracker range though!

Garlic & Basil Knots

I made these Garlic & Basil knots on Monday evening to go with dinner and they were scrumptious! The garlic and basil flavors are very subtle, so they would go perfectly with pasta or soup (and probably so much more!). I found this recipe as I was scrolling through Pinterest, and the original recipe is from a blog Jo Cooks, you can find it HERE.

Start by mixing 1 tablespoon of sugar and 3 teaspoons of active dry yeast in a small mixing bowl - once the sugar and yeast are mixed, pour in 1 cup of warm water. Leave the bowl to sit for about ten minutes so that the yeast foams up. When it foams, it will look like the picture above.

While the yeast is foaming, mix 3 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment hooked on. [**NOTE: if you don't have an electric mixer, you could easily do these next few steps by hand.]

Apple Turnovers

Successful making apple turnovers was kind of dream like for me, because they are something I never thought I would be able to make! Well, not only did I make them, but they were much easier than I expected and they turned out great! I used a blog called Live Well, Bake Often to guide me through making these - you can find the original recipe HERE.

First you'll need puff pastry - you can buy puff pastry from the grocery store or you can use my favorite recipe. If you choose to make the puff pastry that I shared last week, cut it in half once it's out of the fridge.

Roll out the puff pastry dough so that you have two 10x10 inch squares.

Music for Monday: A Guilty Pleasure Song

For months now, my mom has been trying to convince me to post about one of the many songs that I love, but am not proud of loving. You know, like a guilty pleasure!? Well this song is one of my guilty pleasure songs and I am so on the fence about sharing it because I don't necessarily agree with everything that is said in it! But bearing in mind that I don't support anything going on in this song, this is one of my very favorite guilty pleasure songs...

Friday Favorites: Busy Week

Is it Friday already!? This week was such a blur! At the beginning of every week, I put a little Post-It in the corner of my planner where I keep track of all of my favorite things from the week. Well this week, I wrote absolutely nothing down!! Well, I've already made a note to keep track of my favorite next week, but here are my favorite things from this week:

 retrieved from essie.ca

1. I got ESSIE's Lady Like for Christmas and I have been so excited to wear it! I put it on my nails on Wednesday and I have loved every second of it!! It's a neutral with a subtle hint of purple in it and it is so pretty!! I will definitely be wearing this over and over again!

Palmiers

Yesterday, I shared a great recipe for Puff Pastry. If you would like to use that puff pastry for these Palmiers, you can find the recipe HERE. However, you could buy puff pastry from the grocery store, that would make these recipe even easier!! I have always shied away from making palmiers because I was a little intimidated by trying to make a french dessert but these turned out great! And they were so much easier than I was expecting! I read a couple of Pinterest recipes but I ended up winging it after making my own puff pastry. Here is what i did...

Puff Pastry

I found this recipe for Puff Pastry on Pinterest and it led me to a blog called Dessert for Two. I made the recipe into Palmiers on Tuesday night and they were so good! I'm sharing the recipe for the puff pastry today, and I'll talk about how I made them into Palmiers tomorrow! You can find the original recipe HERE.

Pecan Butter Tarts

I had butter tarts at a friend's house over the holidays and I have been wanting to make them ever since! I made these last Wednesday and I could not believe how easy they were! I found the recipe in an old Canadian Living magazine - you can find the recipe online HERE. I made a few changes, but I'll explain that more in the step by step with pictures below!

Start by making the pastry shell by mixing 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Add in 1/4 cup of butter, cubed and 1/4 cup of shortening, cubed (you can see in the picture that I did not cube my shortening - I really don't like touching shortening and I figured I would get cut up in the next step...). Use two knives to cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Music for Monday: More Sam Hunt

I realize that I shared a whole lot of Sam Hunt music just 3 short months ago, but he released a new song and it was love at first listen! I was so excited to listen to this song and I haven't stopped listening to it since!

Friday Favorites: a bit of everything

Happy Friday! I have found myself looking forward to whatever is coming next lately, especially after a busy few months with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years all in a row. I am just waiting for a little excitement around here, but there is very little of that in January! I am looking forward to Valentine's day, Spring Break, Easter, Cinco De Mayo... all the fun celebrations in the late winter/spring! Here are some of the things that I am loving right now:

1. I have loved these glass markers for a long time, but my appreciation for them grew over the holidays. These come in handy when you're hosting and have multiple glasses out. To keep track of a glass, just write someone's name right on their glass with one of these. The marker comes off really easily with soap & water or in the dishwasher! My family uses the Parker & Bailey brand because we spotted them on sale a couple of years ago at a HomeGoods & I love them! You can find them HERE.

Artisan Bread Rolls

I found these rolls on The Café Sucre Farine & I could not wait to make them! They were unbelievably easy and so delicious! I love how versatile these rolls are - they could easily be served with a soup or stew but they also make great sandwiches! You can find the original recipe HERE.

Another thing I love so much about these rolls is how quick they come together! I mixed all of my ingredients together on Tuesday night, baked them Wednesday morning and they were ready before lunch yesterday!

Start by combing 4 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of traditional dry yeast in a large mixing bowl. Once these ingredients are combined, form a well in the center.

Ham & Cheese Omelet

I love having omelets for breakfast - they are always delicious and I love how versatile they are. Yesterday, I made a plain ham and cheese omelet so that's what what I'll be sharing but you can dress it up however you'd like! You can add pesto, bell pepper, tomato, green onion, Italian sausage - really whatever you have on hand. Here is how we do omelets in my house:

Start with two eggs in a small bowl or a glass measuring dish. I use 2 eggs when I am making 1 omelet, but you can vary this amount depending on how many omelets you need. Whisk the eggs together for about 1 minute.

Reese's Pieces Cake Pops

These cake pops turned out so cute & so yummy, but I have to say, I have a love-hate relationship with making cake pops. I'll expand a little more later, but if you have any advice for me, I would love to hear it! If you have any cake pop making knowledge, please leave me a comment!! Here is how I made these Reese's Pieces Cake Pops:

Start by whipping up some peanut butter frosting by combining 2 tablespoons of butter with 1/4 cup of peanut butter using an electric mixer.

Music for Monday: James Arthur

I heard one of James Arthur songs for the first time in November and I haven't been able to quit him since! Here are the ones I have had on repeat lately:

Say You Won't Let Go - James Arthur

Friday Favorites: Hello 2017 & Hello January!

Happy 2017, everyone! As I am sitting down to write this post I am realizing that I have been blogging for EIGHT months! How is that possible!? I still feel very new to this whole blog world but I am looking forward to becoming more comfortable as a blogger in 2017! Here are some of my favorite things from this week:

1. My family saw Trolls over Christmas break and I loved it! It was so cute and there were some really funny moments thrown in! If you haven't seen this one yet, I highly recommend it! It's great for the whole family! 

California Quinoa Salad

My mom made this salad on Tuesday evening and it was so good, I had to take pictures to share it with you! It was a little taste of summer on a chilly January evening! The original recipe comes from Jo Cooks ans it looks like she has some other delicious recipes. My mom made a few changes to this recipe based on what we had on hand, you can find the original recipe HERE.

Start by cooking 1/2 cup of dry quinoa - Follow the cooking instructions indicated on the bag of quinoa. Once your quinoa is cooked, remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool. it must be cooled completely before you can add it to the rest of the salad.

Quinoa is a key ingredient in this salad, but it isn;t always the easiest to figure out! Whenever I have questions about quinoa, I rely on this fabulous article from Cooking Chew. You can find it HERE.

While the quinoa is cooling, chop up 1 mango, 1 green onion (replaced for 1/4 of a red onion in the original recipe) and half of a red bell pepper. Add the mango, green onion and red pepper to a medium sized mixing bowl along with 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut (reduced from 3/4 cup in the original recipe)

Top 5: Kitchen Gifts

Last week, I shared some of my favorite gifts that I received this year for Christmas - you can find that post HERE. Today, I'm sharing my favorite kitchen related gifts that I received! These posts started off as one, but it was LONG and I figured this would be a great way to split it up! So, here are my new favorite kitchen tools:

1. How cute are these measuring spoons? They are measurements for a smidgen, a pinch and a dash! I am so excited to use these!!

Late Night

Oh my goodness! My family went skiing yesterday and we got home way past my bedtime! :) I had a post planned for today but I am beat! Have you seen this video? That is how I'm feeling today!! I will be back tomorrow with some more Christmas fun!

Happy Tuesday!

Music for Monday: Macy Grey

Happy 2017!! I started watching Gilmore Girls over Christmas break - I know that I might be the very last person watching this show but I love it! I'm only a couple episodes into season one, but one thing I know about the Gilmore Girls is how much they love Macy Grey! I love music recommendations from anyone and everyone, so I listened to a few Macy Grey songs and here are the ones that I have fallen in love with...