Friday Favorites: Happy Canada Day!

Tomorrow is Canada Day and Canada is turning 150!! On Canada Day, my family typically goes to a local park that hosts activities and outdoor concerts. At dinner time, we walk home for a little barbecue - often with family friends! And then we head back to the park for fireworks! Canada Day means summer to me and I am so excited to kick off summer with my favorite people! Since it's Canada Day, I am talking about my favorite things about being Canadian today!

Lemon Squares

This recipe is a long time coming - one of my best friends, Alex has been making these lemon squares forever and I have been begging to have the recipe! Alex claims that this recipe is a big family secret. She finally agreed to let me in on the secret recipe on the condition that my readers keep it on the down low ;)

A couple of weeks ago, Alex and I got together for a little bake day and we made these lemon squares. After baking, I uploaded all of the pictures onto my Google drive but I deleted the pictures before they had a chance to upload - so I lost all of the pictures. I texted her in a panic and she said she had to make more soon, so I could join her again! I am so excited to finally be sharing this recipe - it is one of my favorite desserts of all time!

Chicken & Sausage Cajun Jambalaya

I made this Jambalaya a couple of weeks ago for my family and we all fell in love! It is so easy to make and results in very few dishes! I found the recipe on Gluten Free with LB, you can find it HERE. In the future, I would half this recipe - we're only four in my house so we had so much left over Jambalaya!!

Start by heating 1 tablespoon of olive oil a large pot. Then add 12 ounces of Italian Sausage - I used 4 Italian sausages. Cook the sausage for 2-3 minutes until it starts to cook. Then add 1 1/2 lbs of chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook the chicken and sausage over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through (about 8-10 minutes). Then, remove the chicken and sausage from the pot and set it aside.

What I did instead of writing this post...

I had every intention of posting the most delicious Jambalaya recipe today. But instead of doing blog work yesterday, I just enjoyed the day. I did a yoga class, I enjoyed some tea on the back deck and I read. It was such a perfect day after a full week and weekend!

I grabbed Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon when I was at Target a few weeks ago because I had heard great things about it! I started it yesterday morning and I finished it last night! I could not put it down! It was so captivating! The main character and narrator of the story allows the reader to look at life from a very different perspective while still be relatable. This book is the main reason there is no recipe post today - I just wanted to read all day!!

Music for Mondays: Good To Be Alive Today

This weekend was so full of goodness! My sweet friend, Hannah came into town at the end of last week and her parents joined the party over the weekend! We got to do a breakout room (so much fun!), go a to a climbing gym, celebrate St-Jean Baptiste (Quebec's national holiday), and I was introduced to some great new songs!! Hannah's parents had just seen Michael Franti in concert and they were raving about it! I have heard a few of his songs before but I am much better versed in Michael Fanti after this weekend!

Friday Favorites

This week was one of the very best I've had in a long time. It was busy, but oh so good!

1. The Bean' school had its closing ceremony this week and after the ceremony, we stopped by a place called the Diperie downtown. It was so much fun! The Bean got her ice cream dipped in oreo chocolate then topped with gummie bears - I mean, I would never go for this combination but she was in ice cream heaven! I got vanilla ice cream dipped in mint chocolate and rolled in oreos! It was such a good combo and the most delicious dessert!

Summer Berry Tart

I made this tart over the weekend for a dinner with family thinking it would be a great summer dessert. Well, not only was it a great summer dessert, it was delicious! The crust was just like a shortbread cookie, the filling is light with a little bit of orange flavor and the berries on top just put it over the edge! I found the recipe on Simply Recipes, you can find it HERE.

Start by making the crust in the food processor - Pulse 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of salt together.

Beach Themed Summer Banner

Happy, happy summer!! I love how much sunlight we get during the summer and I have really been enjoying the longer days! This banner is one of my more recent cricut projects and it's not strung in my house because I actually made it as a gift! This banner was so much fun to make, here's how I did it:

Collagen: How & Why (among other things!)

Before I start talking about collagen, I should preface with how this all started... As a young teenager, I straightened my hair every single day (ugh!), I had my nails painted almost all of the time (but I didn't do it properly, I just put two coats of nail polish on and called it a day) and I just couldn't figure out a routine that minimized acne! At 16, I had really thin hair, super brittle nails and acne scarring - awesome right!?

A couple things have helped in the nails, skin & hair departments...

Music for Mondays: Halsey

Back in January, I shared a guilty pleasure song and I still have moments where I think ah! I should not have put that on the internet! But the purpose of these Music for Monday posts is to share music that I am really listening to! Part of me is so uncomfortable sharing music that conveys a message that I do not support at all. But the other part of me just gives in to the fun of the music. So although I do not support or partake in anything Halsey sings about, I'm giving in to the fun today and sharing 3 songs that I just cannot get enough of!

Bad At Love - Halsey

Eyes Closed - Halsey

Heaven in Hiding - Halsey

I should warn that all three of these songs are explicit, but with this warning I want to share one of my very favorite memories...

Once when I was 4 or 5 years old,  I was in the car with my mom and she was singing along to Sunday Morning After by Amanda Marshall (Side note: I can't believe I've never posted about Amanda Marshall as a Music for Monday! I love her! I just noted in my planner to do that soon!)

Sunday Morning After - Amanda Marshall

 This song is still one of my favorites to this day! :)

Well, my mama sang the line "It's the Sunday morning after and baby who the hell are you?"And I remember being so shocked it took me a second to recover and ask her why on earth she would swear. She looked at me in the rear view mirror and said "If you're singing along to a song, you're allowed to swear." We have laughed about this so much since, but I so clearly remember my little self trying to process this rule in my head.

Keep my mama's rule in mind while listening to Halsey, ok? ;) Have a great Monday, sweet readers!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! It's finally starting to feel like summer around here and I am getting so excited for all of the summer festivities - barbecues, bonfires, the beach and more!! Here are some of my favorite from this week:

1. A few months ago, I mentioned that I started adding Collagen to my Smoothies and lately I've able to notice the impacts it's having! I especially notice the impact in my nails - they are crazy strong! I was talking to a friend recently about collagen and she was so intrigued! She suggested I do a blog post to talk about how and why I use it! So, I have that planned for next week and I am so excited to share one of my new favorite finds!

Chocolate Chip Cookies [updated]

About a year ago, I shared a chocolate chip cookie recipe that at the time was my favorite. I had spent months (maybe years!) trying out different chocolate chip cookie recipes and that one was my favorite. So I used it over and over again and eventually it just stopped being great - the cookies would burn badly around the edges or spread out to be really thin. The recipe was just so inconsistent for me! It might still work for you & I had several great successes with those cookies but I decided to switch!

I decided to try the recipe that comes with the bag of Toll House chocolate chips. Mainly because in the movie ELF, Buddy says "Then, we'll eat a whole roll of Toll House cookie dough!" Well, I totally get why Buddy wants to eat a whole roll of Toll House cookie dough because these cookies were perfection! I will be sticking with this recipe from here on out!

Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Today, I'm sharing another exciting gluten free recipe. I've shared several strawberry rhubarb recipes in the past, so the only thing that is really different about this is the gluten free crumble. You can easily sub regular flour and oats into the crumble for a not gluten free treat! Last year, I tried a strawberry rhubarb pie for the first time and I fell in love! For the longest time, I thought rhubarb was just glorified celery :) But it is so much better than I expected! I am now the biggest strawberry rhubarb fan!! I found this recipe on a blog called Texan Erin Baking, you can find it HERE.

Start by mixing 2 cup of hulled strawberries (I slice mine into smaller pieces) and 2 cups of chopped rhubarb together in a medium mixing bowl.

Bacon & Spinach Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust

I've been trying so many gluten free recipes lately because my mom has gone gluten free and this was my very first success!! I've had a few successes since this yummy quiche and I am looking forward to sharing all of my gluten free adventures! I have to say, I like this quiche even better than quiche with regular crust! The sweet potato compliments the filling of the quiche nicely! I would really encourage you to try this even if you aren't gluten free!

I found this recipe on Rachel Cooks - you can find it HERE.

Music for Monday: Kris Allen (again!)

Last week, I stumbled upon Kris Allen's most recently released acoustic album and it is all I have listened to since. On a Music for Monday post back in September, I gushed all about Kris Allen (you can find that post HERE) and today, I'm just adding to that collection! Also, I finally got around to changing up my Music for Mondays graphic!! I was never really into the old one and it bothered me every time I used it! So, I'm very excited to be using a more subtle graphic and to be sharing more Kris Allen!!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! As usual, I'm linking up with a few other bloggers to share the best things from my week!

1. In between the Bean's shows last weekend, I got to open my Erin Condren planner!! I was so excited to unbox it and it did not disappoint at all! Every little detail in the planner is just stunning & so well thought out! I'm really looking forward to using it over the next year!

Baking with the Bean: Breakfast Omelet Muffins

The Bean is in exams right now and was looking for a little break from studying and suggested a little Baking with the Bean segment! I was happy to oblige especially because I've had these fun muffins on my 'to make' list forever! So, with my sidekick in toe I made some muffins that I am so excited to share with you today!

Candy Bouquets

In my Friday Favorites last week, I mentioned that I was working on a fun treat to give the Bean after her dance recital. Well, it as it turned out, The Bean got a candy bouquet but so did her three dance teachers and her favorite dance friend!

This idea came to be as I did not want to give her the typical flowers after her recital, but I wanted to get her something! And I wanted it to be something good and memorable. Well, this girl loves candy, so what better to give than candy!? I did a little Pinterest research then I put my own twist on these fun candy bouquets!

Personal Narratives in Second Grade

Teaching is something that I didn't initially intend to post about on my blog. When I started to develop the lesson that I'm sharing today, I thought it might be a fun one to share. But when I got to teach the lesson and see how effective it was, I knew I had to share it! This lesson was developed with inspiration from Pinterest as well as guidance from my cooperating teacher! We used several ideas from True Life I'm a Teacher while developing this lesson.

The second grade classroom that I was in were coming to the end of a unit that focused on situating themselves in place and time. Throughout the unit, they discussed time zones, they made personal timelines, they read books about people who live in different parts of the world and people who lived at different times throughout history, they explored vocabulary to help them express where they are in place and time and more! To close the unit, the students had to write a personal narrative to add to their portfolios and I got to teach the lesson to introduce Personal Narratives! Here is how I did it...

First, I wrote this out on a flip chart at the front of the classroom. I did this before the kids got to school - most times, I think it's effective to make the flip chart with the students present, but in this case, I did it before.

Music for Mondays: Moana!

On Friday evening, I finally had the opportunity to see Moana! It was such a good movie & the music is especially magnificent! If you have yet to see Disney's latest flick, I highly recommend it for a family movie night - so good!! Here are a few of my favorite songs from the movie...

How Far I'll Go - Auli'i Cravalho

I had heard this song several times before seeing the movie and out of context, it made no sense to me. I was actually reluctant to see the movie just because this song had me so confused! However, once I understood the story, I totally understood this song! And it's beautiful! It is reprised several times throughout the movie and just as good each time!

Friday Favorites: Hello June!

I can't believe it's June! I know I say this every month but sometimes it really feels like I'm living in fast forward sometimes! Ferris Bueller's quote "Life moves pretty fast, If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it" has been on my mind lately. I've really been trying to slow down and be present in every moment. I have definitely not been living crazy like Ferris! I've just been trying to slow down BIG time! Here is a little look at what's going on around here:

1. I mean, does this picture really look like anything!? Not really, but it's a bonfire! One of the girls that I go to school with hosted a bonfire in her backyard last weekend and it was so much fun! I love sitting fireside and snacking on s'mores with friends! Some of the girls at the party had never had a s'more in their life - huh!? I didn't even realize this was a possibility!!

Homemade Pizza Crust

Happy June!! It's no secret that one of my favorite things is second day, cold pizza! It's also no secret that my favorite blog to get recipes from is Carlsbad Cravings! So when I found this pizza crust recipe on Carlsbad cravings, I knew it was a match made in heaven! :) I should also mention that I really do love fresh pizza, but I always make sure to have at least a piece left over to eat the next day because that's my favorite way to eat pizza!

Start by adding 1 1/2 cups of water that is between 105 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit to the bowl of your Kitchen-Aid mixer (you could also do this by hand - just put the water in a regular bowl and mix with a wooden spoon). Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of instant yeast to the warm water. You could use active dry yeast, but the dough will take longer to rise if you do.

Let the yeast sit in the water for about 10 minutes so that it foams like in the picture above.

Attach the dough hook to your mixer and mix in 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. Mix these ingredients in until they are well combined. Then, gradually add 2 more cups of flour - the dough should begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still really sticky, add up to 1/4 cup more flour, but add it 1 tablespoon at a time (4 tablespoons + 1/4 cup).

You should stop adding flour when the dough barely sticks to your fingers. Let the mixer knead the dough for 5 minutes at medium speed - if you are not using a mixer, do the kneading by hand! Once the dough has been kneaded, remove it from the bowl, shape it into a ball and place it back into a bowl coated with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that all sides are covered in olive oil. Then, cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size (about 1-2 hours).

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and split it into 2 equal pieces. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise for 15 minutes longer. I put some flour on my dough because it was a little sticky after rising.

Roll out each piece of dough into about a 12'' circle and transfer it onto a baking sheet. My family has 2 round pizza baking sheets. Jen from Carlsbad Cravings details how she uses a baking stone, if you plan on going that route, check out her post HERE. I found that a plain baking sheet worked well, I might try the pizza stone in the future!

The baking sheet or pizza stone that you cook the pizza on should be coated with olive oil and a little bit of cornmeal. Then, once you put the crust down, brush some olive oil onto the crust and sprinkle a little garlic salt over the olive oil. 

Fold over the sides of the pizza dough to make the crust. Then dress the pizza with your favorite toppings. I used marinara sauce instead of pizza sauce, then I made one pizza with pepperoni and cheese and the other with pepperoni, cheese and red peppers.

Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit the bake the pizzas for 12 minutes. My cheese was golden after 12 minutes in the oven, but if needed, you could broil your pizza to brown the cheese. Let the pizza sit for a minutes before serving!

HOMEMADE PIZZA CRUST
yield: two 12'' pizzas

ingredients
1 1/2 cups of warm water (between 105 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit)
1 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of instant or active dry yeast (instant yeast will rise faster)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil (+ more for bowl and baking sheet)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (+1/4 cup more if needed)
Cornmeal
Garlic Salt

directions
1. Add the warm water, sugar and yeast to the of a Kitchen-Aid with the dough hook attached. All this mixture to sit for 10 minutes giving the yeast time to foam. [You could do this recipe by hand instead of using a Kitchen-Aid. If you are doing this, use a regular mixing bowl and a wooden spoon].
2. Mix in the salt, the olive oil and 1 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour. Mix these ingredients in until they are well combined. Gradually add 2 more cups of flour - the dough should begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still really sticky, add up to 1/4 cup more flour, but add it 1 tablespoon at a time (4 tablespoons + 1/4 cup).
3. You should stop adding flour when the dough barely sticks to your fingers. Let the mixer knead the dough for 5 minutes at medium speed. If you are not using a mixer, do the kneading by hand. Once the dough has been kneaded, remove it from the bowl, shape it into a ball and place it back into a bowl coated with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that all sides are covered in olive oil. Then, cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size (about 1-2 hours).
4. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and split it into 2 equal pieces. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise for 15 minutes longer.
5.  Roll out each piece of dough into about a 12'' circle and transfer it onto a baking sheet. The baking sheet should be coated with olive oil and a little bit of cornmeal. Then, once you put the crust down, brush some olive oil onto the crust and sprinkle a little garlic salt over the olive oil.
6. Fold over the sides of the pizza dough to make the crust. Then dress the pizza with your favorite toppings.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit the bake the pizzas for 12 minutes. If needed, broil the pizzas for 2 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.

Let me know if you have questions!