August Foodie Pen Pals!

I'm so excited that this was my first month participating in Foodie Pen pals from The Lean Green Bean. I would definitely participate in months to come! My package came in about a week ago and it was hard to keep it a secret. Becky over at Skinny Minnie's Recipes sent me this awesome food package.

What did Becky send?
She sent me some awesome truffle sea salt, which I am thinking about what to do with it next. Maybe popcorn? Or add it in to many of my dishes! So excited. I also got some tasty cashews, coconut water, wild rice, and masala sauce. I am seeing that these are ingredients for a meal. Which I will make (and post!)

Thank you to Becky for sending me these items that I've never tried before. I am looking forward to using these ingredients!

Wanna check out what I got Carrie? Check out her blog Family Fitness Food.

Easy Work Smoothie

Made this bad boy today at work with my awesome single-serve blender. I didn't have to go to the store, but made this finding things in our office kitchen. Took literally 5 minutes to make.

Ingredients

OJ
Ice
Vanilla Greek Yogurt
Banana
Honey

No need to measure. Keep blending to get your preferred taste.

DIY "Cool" Aid Lip Gloss

I am sure you have seen many variations of how to make this "Kool Aid Lip Gloss". Well.. Here is my version.

Ingredients:

Vaseline or Aquaphor jelly
Some shimmer powder, I used my highlighting powder by Bare Essentials
Kool Aid Cherry

Mix your ingredients in a small container. For more shimmer, add more powder, for more color, add more Kool Aid.

P.S. Like my funny pictures?

 

World's Best Lasagna

This recipe needs no instructions from me. I didn't come up with the idea of this recipe. I... Googled it. Apparently to John Chandler, this is "World's Best Lasagna" and it must be since it ranked #2 in my search. BUT to be HONEST... it wasn't the best. But close. Wanna know how I would make it better?

First off, don't mind this mess. Second... I would make this recipe a little better by:

• Not adding Italian sausage to the meat sauce- I've never been a fan of mixed meats or the Italian sausage taste in lasagna.
• Add more ricotta cheese versus the meat sauce ratio. Everything tastes better with cheese.
• Add some of your own spices like Basil and Garlic (no one can ever have too much garlic- until you start smelling like one).
• Add some vegetables, that might sound interesting

Click link to view the "World's Best Recipe"

Do you have any good lasagna recipes? I'd LOVE to know!

Are You There? It's Me, Jillian

Good morning! I've been posting a lot of recipes lately (because I've been soooo busy with work, I haven't had time to do a lot of crafting or taking pictures). So I figure I post what is convenient to me- and this is food. 

I wanted to take this time to talk a little about me instead of what I eat. I made this blog (after making many blogs before this) as a way for me to share and journal my life and my hobbies/interests. My blogs before have been mainly how I can make money at blogging, but I've decided I just want to do it for fun. 

I work in social media marketing for an agency called Crispin Porter + Bogusky. I am thrilled to be a part of such an amazing company and work with some awesome brands!

I live with my boyfriend, Matt in Boulder, CO and we like to cook together and eat a lot of pizza and burgers. sh ;) We bike to work every day (almost) and we go hiking on occasion. That is probably the most interesting thing going on in my life right now. Besides this cute looking blog!

Well, I hope you enjoy this blog because I enjoy writing it. Oh, and I am sometimes awkward and quirky if you haven't gathered from these photos. Have a wonderful morning/day/night. 

-p.s. every time is morning because I just don't want these days to end!

Easy Turkey, Cucumber and Cream Cheese Wrap

To make, I bought freshly cooked turkey (just a few pieces and none of that salty stuff), a cucumber, and some whole wheat tortillas. At work, I found some cream cheese and jelly and just decided to go for it. I smeared the cream cheese and jelly on the tortilla first, placed the turkey slices on top, cut the skin off the cucumber and sliced them lengthwise and placed them on top of the turkey. Rolled it up and wa-la! A tasty lunch! The jelly adds a little bit of sweetness to the wrap and I thought it was quite good.

Pad Thai Recipe

Ingredients:

Egg- beaten, fried and cut into pieces
8 oz rice noodles
3 tbsp oil
3-4 cloves garlic chopped or minced
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 lb of chicken
1/4 cup sugar
2 limes fresh squeezed
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup ground peanuts
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 cups of bean sprouts (or more if you’d like)
3-5 tbsp Pad Thai sauce (more if you like it saucy)

Cook noodles in boiling water for 10-15 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Cook the egg separately, cut into cubes, set aside. Add oil and garlic to med-hot pan. Cook chicken thoroughly in garlic and oil. Add the remaining ingredients (except peanuts and bean sprouts). Add in the bean sprouts and peanuts last. Garnish with cut lime and raw peanuts.

Play It By Ear Cookie Muffins

I call these "Play it by Ear Cookie Muffins" because I didn't really follow a recipe. I played it by ear... I baked these as I went along. Below are the ingredients... but experiment with what you want to put in your muffins and how much you want to put in it. I made it more salty and less sweet, but you may not want salty.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
handful of semi sweet chocolate morsels
handful of sprinkles
handful of smashed pretzels
pinch of salt
Anything else your heart desires!

in a separate bowl, mix your flour and baking soda. Set aside. Mix your melted butter and cream cheese in another bowl with sugar until creamed. Add your egg, brown sugar and vanilla. Begin adding your flour to the liquid mix 1/2 cup at a time. Then add in your other ingredients until mixed. Pour into muffin tins and bake from 10-15 minutes or until outside is golden brown. It's okay to let the inside be a little moist :) I like my cookies soft.

Enjoy!

A treat for National S'More Day

 

I can't exactly give you specific measurements for the ingredients we used on this. Because everything was just thrown into a small blender I bought for work. All I can say... it was delicious. As a meal replacement, I wanted to add something a little extra. So we added some of a vanilla protein shake into the mix.

Ingredients: Protein shake (mix), milk, ice, chocolate syrup, marshmallow creme, graham crackers, mini marshmallows. 

Unhealthy Cream Cheese and Garlic Pasta

A few days ago I said I wanted to use cream cheese to make something. Wellllll... I was thinking more of a dessert, but this would do.

Ingredients

1 lb penne pasta

3-4 chopped pieces of bacon

1 head of broccoli 

4 cloves minced garlic

1/2 chopped onion

6 oz cream cheese

2 tbsp butter

white pepper

parmesan cheese

basil

s and p

Bake your bacon and let the fat drippings fall through the rack onto a pan. Set aside and chop into pieces when cool. Start to cook your pasta as normal. In your saute pan, heat oil and add garlic and onion for 5-10 minutes or until onion is soft. Add in your broccoli and cook for another 10 minutes.

Next, add in the remaining ingredients and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Stir in your bacon and penne pasta. Viola! In less than 30 minutes you have a cheesy, unhealthy meal!

 Enjoy!

Easy Korean Beef

I don't have any more exciting pictures of this dish, partially because we were wrapped up in watching the gymnast all around Olympics and partially because this was super easy.

Ingredients:
1 pound beef or turkey
1 cup of rice
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1-2 cups of green onions
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp sesame oil*
s and p

*(we didn't have sesame oil so we used olive oil and sesame seeds to make the base of the the saute pan)

Before I start cooking, I always like to have all of my vegetables and herbs chopped up and ready to go. Start cooking your rice and follow preparations on package. While rice is cooking, add your sesame oil to pan and add your minced garlic for a saute base. Then add in your beef. Cook beef until brown and drain fat.

Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add s and p/garlic powder to taste. Save some green onions for a crunchy garnish. Serve over rice and viola! a quick easy and inexpensive meal.

For some weird reason my link party icons are freaking out. Please visit my sidebar to see where I linked this recipe -----> Thanks!

Recipe adapted from Lizzy Writes