September through pictures

Friends is spelled T A C O S

Love the tacos, hate that one is unlike the others.

A sweet surprise from some ward friends.

I made peanut butter bars.

I got sick and some sweet ladies dropped this care package off.

Not quite the worst recipe...

...that I've ever written. I'm dreamin' of this mac and cheese I made a million years ago. You want a recipe? Okay...

Ingredients:

Elbow Macaroni
Cheddar Cheese (I prefer medium cheddar.)
2 T of Butter
2 T of Flour
Milk (or cream)

Boil noodles until al dente. Strain and put in greased pan. Over low heat, melt butter. Once melted, add the flour and mix until it becomes like dough. Add milk and turn up the heat and whisk to combine the flour and milk. Add cheese (leave 1/2 cup of cheese for topping) and stir until cheese is completely melted and thickens into a sauce. Pour over noodles and mix together. Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes. Pull out of oven and add remaining 1/2 cup of cheese over the top and put in oven until cheese is melted and golden brown.

Optional: You can jazz it up with some garlic or a breaded topping. I usually make a topping out of Corn Flakes. It's not the worst.

Instead of dishing it on plates, just hand everyone a fork and eat from the pan. Less dishes. (Totes joking...but not really.)

Because I'm a foodie...

I take a lot of pictures of food, because duh! I love food. I like to look at food. I like to cook. I like to bake. I LOVE to eat. Sometimes I have cooking mishaps. Like last week. When I thought my food processor would work. It doesn't. And my BlendTec wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. So...great. Most times my food turns out spectacular. Here are some pictures for you eyes to feast on. <<See what I did there?

I love fresh lemons! Lately I've been slicing lemons and freezing them to put in my water bottle. Not only do they act as ice, but they also add fresh lemon flavor to it.

I've been lovin' bell peppers lately. I put them in everything. Quesadillas, salads, rice, pasta...

I love, love, LOVE, taco salad. This salad is meat-less, but I love the flavors of different veggies, black beans, and cilantro mixed together! Cilantro is my love. I love to add it to everything, because it really just adds freshness and flavor to any dish.

On the rare occasions that I make tacos, I always enjoy it. I love everything that goes into a taco. This day I made lime chicken tacos. Most times I go meat-less and add rice or more beans with lime to it. It's delicious either way!

I wanted a quick sweet snack, so I whipped up these babies. I cut an English muffin in half. Added a layer of peanut butter. Sliced up an apple and assembled it on top and added a dash of cinnamon sugar to it. I baked it at 350 degress unti lightly toasted. Seriously this was amazing!

Obviously saved the best for last. I made homemade enchiladas. Seriously, this should be more of a staple than it already is. I topped it off with fresh cilantro, sour cream, and guacamole. It was a huge hit! It's dishes like this that confirm that my future family won't starve! I'll be making these soon and posting a recipe here next week so stay tuned! :)

#TBT

This is the first pizza bagel I had even eaten in my life. It was at a bagel shop in downtown Seattle. It was pretty average. What a throw back, right? Wish I could go back to Seattle! #Seattle2014

Meh.

I'm sitting here by a jar of creamy peanut butter and a spoon. I've been busy. I've been stressed. I've been on a spiritual high and I trying to bring myself down. I'm thinking I'm just going to make some chocolate peanut butter banana nice cream and watch some Gilmore Girls. Byeeeee!

Hit or Miss

...or curious. My creativity through cooking comes out when I'm trying to use up the food that I have. I don't want to go shopping, because I'm lazy and I hate it. I ate a fried egg with pimento olives and cheese mixed in it. I topped that with some cilantro-avocado dressing. It wasn't the worst. I ate every bite. And then I had the same thing for breakfast the next day.

For lunch today, I thought it would be great to use my frozen cauliflower. I bought them, because I had read that you can substitute chicken with cauliflower. So I went to work and made this beautiful lemon chili pepper flour coating and poured it over the cauliflower. Then I baked it. And I baked it. And it baked. But it wasn't looking the way I wanted it to. So I threw it in the oven again and wracked my brain as to why it wasn't working. Then it hit me. I was supposed to fry the cauliflower. So I took it out of the oven fried it up and still looked terrible. And the taste, you ask? It wasn't the worst. And usually I will tolerate that, but not today. I threw it away in the trash and made chocolate chip pancakes.

It's a hit or miss with me. I am usually pretty good at cooking. I have limited ingredients, so maybe I need to just suck it up and go grocery shopping this week. It's not the worst. Happy Tuesday and I hope your food tastes better than mine.

P.S. You've been asking for recipes on food that I've posted on Instagram and those recipes are coming!

Pictures Part Two

You asked for more pictures, so here we go! 2016 has been such a wonderful year so far!

Obviously we'll begin with Miss Kenzie! She's the cutest ever.

Also, she is getting super chunky. Chunky babies are the best!

This cute roommate and I go for walks every Sunday before church. And sometimes we just come across things like this that make us super happy! It's the little things, you guys!

Have you been to the Provo City Center Temple Open House yet? There's still time! It's beautiful!

I made homemade orange chicken on Saturday night and it was delish!

Yesterday, I made these homemade parmesan crackers with fresh guacamole. It was so good!

Beat The Blues: Food

"Let food by thy medicine." -Hippocrates

Food has always been a hit or miss with me during anxiety/depression. I either want to binge to fill the empty void or I forget to eat. I've found though that I feel a lot worse when I just binge on junk food. While pizza may be a "comfort" food, it doesn't give me the nutrients that I need. In fact, I feel a lot more tired and groggy. It's gotten to the point where I had to get rid of all the junk food and replace them with healthier options. That way if I do binge, I have no choice but to eat what I have. Eating fruits and veggies give me the nutrients that I need and actually help me have more energy. When I put healthier things in my body, I feel a lot happier. I have found that I am able to deal better with my emotions. I recently went to Sprouts Market Place and restocked my cupboard and refrigerator. Below are some pictures of what I usually buy. (Not pictured: Nutritional Yeast)



When anxiety/depression hits, I don't have energy or motivation to make anything to eat. I make sure to stock up on simple and tasty foods that are quick. Avocado toast is a staple for me. It's quick and delicious and filling!

 Avocado Toast

1/2 Avocado

Bread

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Lemon Pepper

Butter

Toast your bread. Once your bread is toasted, you can add butter or just go straight to adding your avocado. With a fork, smash your avocado onto your toast and then season with your salt and pepper. Finish off by drizzling some olive oil over it and voila! Avocado toast!

I typically add some fresh fruit. It adds both sweetness and color. When I'm feeling down, I like to eat things that are aesthetically pleasing. By adding more color to your plate, it can brighten your mood. I know, it's weird, but it works!

I will be doing a post about essential oils on Thursday, but I wanted to share my Lavender Lemonade recipe. Lavender is naturally calming and relaxing. Funny enough, I'm not a big fan of the scent. I really love lavender lemonade, because it's got the sweetness of lemonade with a hint of lavender. I've found that this is both pleasing and relaxing.

Lavender Lemonade

3 Lemons

6 cups water

1/2 cup Agave Nectar or Honey

1 Drop Lavender Oil

Juice your lemons and add them with the agave nectar to your water. Add 1 drop of lavender oil and stir together. Chill in the refrigerator or pour over ice. Enjoy! (Note: one drop of oil goes a long LONG long way! Don't add more in. It'll taste interesting.)

  

I will be sharing with you more recipes and if you have some that you love, send them in! Check out tomorrow's post all about goals and anxiety management. Stay awesome, kids!

Summer Days and the Kool-Aid Gang

Let's be honest. Kool-Aid is delicious. Especially when you're a little kid. That cold, sugary drink is what cools you down on a hot summer day! My mom never bought Kool-Aid, BUT my neighbors pantry was stocked! I remember those days sitting on the front porch in the summer heat, drinking Kool-Aid with my friends. That was the life!

One hot day after drinking a whole pitcher of Kool-Aid, we got a crazy idea. Kool-Aid is practically colored sugar. Add water and voila! You have yourself Kool-Aid! We filled the pitcher, added the necessary cups of sugar, and (for color) a few drops of food coloring. We stirred everything together and poured us a tall glass. I took a nice big swig and my world came to halting stop.
BLEH!!! It was disgusting! (Vomitrocious as my young self would say.) I guess you could say we forgot about the artificial flavoring that satisfies the palate.

Moral of the story: Save the sugar water for the hummingbirds.