homemade {pop-tarts}

Have you ever just taken a bite of something & thought, "This would be the food I would choose to have on a stranded island!" Well, it happens to be quite a bit but this one... oh man, this one was it! I found the recipe in the $10 magazine Zach reluctantly purchased for me... he was right, I could have found the same recipe on pinter, but I prefer the hard copies. These tasty little morals reminded me of the danish recipe I have previously shared.

What you'll need:

Pop-tarts 

1 3/4 C of flour

1 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup butter 

1 {beaten} egg

2 tablespoons of milk

your choice of fruit preserves or jam - I used raspberry {YUM!}

Frosting 

1 C powdered sugar 

1 tablespoon of milk

splash of vanilla 

1. 2. 3. 4. ext. Mix your dry ingredients first! add in your butter slowly... should begin to look crumbly! stir in your lightly beaten egg, once mixed in begin to add your milk slowly... you may need more than 2 tablespoons {until the mixture holds together} you do not want a milky or "wet" texture... or you have added too much milk! But don't worry, sprinkle some flour in if you need!

Then! Separate your dough to 2 {even} balls. clear a clean surface and sprinkle some flour to avoid your dough from sticking... If you haven't noticed... I'm not a good follower of directions so in other recipes you will find step by step instructions on how to cut up perfect squares but Zach & I preferred to roll out all the dough & make some funky looking shapes along with these 2 "pretty" ones! Just make sure that each tart has 2 matching sides to eventually stick together!!!

Preheat your oven to 375. Find your matching pieces, one of side add approximately 1 tablespoon of your filling choice, once you have done so you can lightly smudge some milk along the edges to ensure they stick together, place the matching side on top, begin to use a fork to smoosh together the edges! use the fork to stab some holes in the tops before they take a trip into the oven to avoid an explosion of tasty jam.

BANG! You have a pop tart. JK, place these little suckers in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Once you have removed them, let them cool! Unless... you want your frosting to melt all over the place.

The icing is the most simple part. 

stir together your powdered sugar, milk & butter!!! Once the tarts are cooled, spoon that delicious frosting over them... don't make my mistake & eat it all before it ends up on the finished product!!!

PS: I made mine dairy free!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poached eggs... in Marinara!!!!!

Zachy ordered something similar to this at a restaurant & I truly thought it was going to be AWFUL, but guess what... it is now my go to food at the time. I am OBSESSED!
The first time I made it {pictured} we made some homemade marinara which I throw in some canned tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, onions & some peppers!
I then brought it to a boil, cracked the eggs in as if I were poaching them in water & watched them cook to perfection! I also threw in some chunks of mozzarella because everything is better loaded with CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Toasted some break & chowed down!!!!


Now...
The easy way...
already made marinara sauce
eggs
toast

Preheat  the oven to say 415 degrees, crack the eggs in a marinara sauce which should all be in a small glass dish pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes & DONE!!!!!!

DELICIOUS!
I have become OBSESSED!

tasty BBQ chicken & Bacon pizza

I have got a huge crush on the BBQ chicken pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, but they are pretty expensive for a pizza... so, I made my own! MmMMMMmmmmm

Ingredients:
pizza dough (Trader Joe's has pre made & it is SO YUMMY)
BBQ Sauce
Chicken Breasts
Bacon
Onion
Garlic
Mozzarella
Parmesan /Gouda cheese mix (if you want)

Directions:
Cook up those chicken breasts, I popped mine in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper & some other herbs... however you like your chicken!
Cook up that yummy bacon, cut first... it's A LOT EASIER
Roll out your pizza dough, I had my assistant in the kitchen for this one ;)
spoon over BBQ sauce over dough
Throw all those other toppings on top!
I grated the onion & garlic into little pieces & threw some around... do as much as you like! Some people don't like onion & garlic!
Then top with that yummy cheese & drizzle some BBQ sauce on top!
Follow the pizza dough directions & cook pizza as directed, once it is cooked up top with some fresh cilantro & eat up!!!
SO YUMMY!!!

{no fry} fried ice cream!!!!!!

Are you ready to make the most delicious Cinco De Mayo dessert?
EASIEST, soooooooo yummy & did I mention easy?

Ingredients:
6 cups corn flakes {crushed}
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons butter {melted}
5 table spoons corn syrup
5 table spoons honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon
vanilla ice cream {1 gallon}
any toppings you want {whipped cream, syrup, honey, chocolate, syrup, berry syrup, ANYTHING YOU WANT}

Directions:
crush corn flakes, I throw them into a big baggie & give them a few punches
combine cereal, sugar, butter, corn syrup, honey & cinnamon!
Shape ice cream into any size ball you want, I did little babies... roll balls in the cereal {press lightly to ensure balls are fully coated}
place ice cream balls into a muffin tin or on a plate... freeze until ready to serve or it appears to have set together!
Top with any of your yuppy toppings & ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!

mmmm citrus {& herb} chicken

I have been seeing a lot of these recipes on Pinterest over the last month of so, so I decided to give it a go!
I mixed up a few different recipes using what I liked from each! {you don't always have to follow one specific recipe, be fancy}

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 lemons
2 oranges
1 onion, sliced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon parsly
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt {your choice of amount}
pepper {your choice of amount}
10-12 chicken pieces, I used drumsticks & thighs {at Trader Joe's they have BONELESS thighs!}

Directions:
Mix together olive oil, garlic, all seasonings, sugar, 1 juiced lemon, 1 juiced orange! I let my chicken marinade in the mix for about an hour in a big zip lock baggie, if you don't have time for that... place chicken in a 13inX9in baking dish & pour mixture over chicken making sure all the chicken parts gets some of that sauce bath!
slice lemon, orange & onion, place around and under chicken then if you want to add some more seasoning over your chicken, go for it! This is when you make your recipe your own.
Bake for an hour or until chicken reaches 160 degrees, uncovered {middle rack, move to top last 10-15 mins for a nice brown color}
THEN!
Enjoyyyyyyyyyy!!!

I made garlic cheesy bread & garlic green beans, it went together perfectly!!!!!!

EASIEST cream cheese & {berry} danish

Yummmm... yum... yum!

Oh my goodness, I am so happy I finally decided to make this because it is SO DELICIOUS, easy & even cheap! 

My taste tester gave it over 20/10 SO that means it is good... then again he's not too picky ;)

Ingredients: 

1 tube crescent rolls

For the filling:
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cup blackberries {or any berry of your choice}
For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 {or more} tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla & flour.

On an ungreased cookie sheet roll out the crescent rolls and connect them {see photo} it should be able the length of your cookie sheet, smoosh together any open holes. 

Cut diagonal strips up each side of the dough {as pictured} about 1/2 an inch wide.

Once all your strips are cut spread your cream cheese mixture up the center & top with your berries... I mooshed up half of my berries to make it into almost a jelly consistency. 

Fold & braid dough over the mixture & berries, this part could be a little tricky if you are trying to make it look as pretty as can be...

Bake for 20 minutes, let cool... 

Mix icing ingredients, if the icing is too think just add a splash or more cream until it is at your desired consistency & drizzle over that baby!

Then... over indulge & enjoy!

When life hands you lemons...

I don't know why, it must be the seasons changing but my face & it's recent reoccurring zits & pimples are really trying to give me some sort of strange depression or anxiety BECAUSE IT'S DRIVING ME BONKERS!
I have been trying lots of home remedies, baking soda facials, honey, vinegar & so on... they have all helped in their own ways!
ANYWAYS... as you can tell I have been scouring the internet for all sorts of home remedies & all natural things & I have become rather obsessed!
Especially when I came across LEMONS!
wow, wow, wow! I don't know if I am the only one who did not know all of this, but there are SO MANY great things lemons are good for especially if you drink it in the morning with luke warm water - if you are under 150 pounds a half of a lemon & if you are over a whole lemon {that is what I had found as the most common recommendation}!!!!!
Energy, digestion, acne, detoxing, wrinkles, infections, stinky breath, ph levels, vitamins... I mean seriously, you see? The list is endless!
SO... of course I ran to the store & grabbed as many lemons as I could & this is now going to be apart of my everyday routine!

There were so many great articles & blogs posting about the benefits of drinking lemon water & also applying it to the skin... here is a few of the million I read!!!

{life hack}
{food matters}
{Vixi}

brew, ferment, bottle, enjoy

This weekend Zach & I FINALLY used the brew kit from {Craft a Brew}that I got him in SEPTEMBER, I have no idea why it took us so long to use it!!!!!!
The kit is reasonably priced, filled with everything you need & has super simple step by step directions to follow!!!
It was so fun!!!
I was mistaken when I thought it was going to be ready to drink the day we made it... but I had obviously forgotten the important step of fermenting!!!
But in a couple of weeks it will be ready to bottle & enjoy!!!
{the anticipation is killing me}

comfort foods {hamburger rollup & pan gravy}

Yum, yum, yum! I consider my favorite food to be a catagory rather than a specific food (that's how I get around the "what's your favorite ____ ?" How can you ever pick just one thing, so... I categorize my picks) COMFORT FOOD! that's my favorite type of foods... or doughnuts. ANYWAYS...

Hamburger rollups are so simple, so easy... & SO DELICIOUS! (it's basically biscuits & gravy) My mom learned of this masterpiece in her home economics class in high school!

What you'll need...

Hamburger Rollup:
bisquick (follow the bisquits recipe x2)
milk
roughly 1 pound ground hamburger (or turkey... for all you turkeys)
1 pound sausage (I use the jimmy dean premium pork sausage regular)
flour
seasonings of your choice

Gravy:
grease from cooked sausage & hamburger
flour
milk
seasonings of your choice

How To:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Brown sausage & hamburger together - season if you'd like! I just do plan ol salt & pepper!
• Follow bisquick recpipe on box for bisquits (double it), roll dough out onto a cutting board or just your counter in whatever form you find easiest to roll (I do as close to a rectangle as I can)
• Once your meat is cooked & dough is rolled out, top the meat onto the dough, roll! 
• Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes! (if the top starts to get too brown throw some tin foil over your rollup)

• Homemade gravy time!
• To make a roux for pan gravy all you do is heat the leftover grease until you seem bubble (medium heat - high) sprinkle flour, mix... repeat! 
• Add milk (while stirring - your wrists will get a workout) 
• Repeat this process until you have as much gravy as you'd like!!!
• Add all your yummy seasonings again I just use salt & pepper... maybe some onion & garlic powder!

Pull your hamburger rollup outta the oven, cut that thing open and see all the yummy meat & dough in a pretty marble pattern, drench it in gravy & enjoy! 

no bake cookies

Yum, yum, yum, yum!
I was always so happy to see my momma in the kitchen, she's an amazing cook & a pretty dang good baker!
I give her, my grandmother OH & not to mention Mrs. P & Hattie all the credit for my abilities in the kitchen!
These are so simple & fast, the only thing that can happen is the chocolate not setting and you end up with gooey cookies, which I am fine with if that happens!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons coco
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups of oatmeal (quick oats)

Extras:
wax paper

Bring sugar, coco, butter & milk to a boil (in a saucepan) for 2 minute!
Add vanilla & oatmeal until mixed together (while still boiling)
Have a piece of wax paper ready for you to drop that delicious mixture onto in spoonfuls... be careful during this step, DO NOT test the mixture, or you'll eat it all!
Enjoy!

sips {jalapeno mule}

Jalapeno mule anyone?
I love trying new things, but when it comes to drinks I have a hard time stepping out of my comfort zone!
My boyfriend on the other hand, give him anything to try & he will.
{Salut Kitchen Bar} in Tempe has some fun yummy drinks on it & BOY, this thing was GOOD!!!
Vodka, lime, ginger beer & some muddled jalapenos! mmmmmmm
Next time we will have to try some absinthe cocktails.