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a year of goals.

 

This past year I started a tradition with myself. I make a list of all the goals I want to get done from one birthday to the next and each year the amount of goals I have equals the age that I am. So, this list of goals are, "19 before 20". I won't share all of them because some of them are very personal, but here are a few...

 

1. Eat Healthier

    I think I accomplished this...sort of. I'm eating better than I used to, but still not as well as I think I should be.

3. Work Out Regularly

    I work out at least three times a week and lately it's been 5-6 (feelin' good!)

4. Do at least 10 crafts

    I made this a small number because I started this list later in the year, but I exeeded my expectations by far.

8. Go to Chicago

    You can see that goal accomplished here and here.

11. Read more books

    I definitely did do this, but I felt that most of the books that I read were for school, but I guess that's okay, right?

14. Make fondue

    I sure did.

15. Spend a day without electronics

    I didn't end up doing this until yesterday! And let me tell you, it was HARD!

16. Get wisdom teeth out

    Unfortunately, this one made it to this next years list. yuck!

19. Be a better person

    This one will make it on to every list each year.

 

 

My "20 before 21" list:

1. Learn to play guitar

2. Get a tattoo (but only if you're sure of it!)

3. Learn to sew

4. Go on vacation out of state

5. Do charity work

6. Save $1,000

7. Do one craft per week

8. Make time for your relationships

9. Read books for your own enjoyment

10. Make time for your spirituality

11. Fly a kite

12. Spend more time outdoors

13. Eat healthier

14. Go ice skating

15. Watch some good movies

16. See a waterfall

17. Teach someone something

18. Make a souffle

19. Get wisdom teeth out (seriously!)

20. Be a better person

 

I'm super excited to get started on this coming years list. I love making goals for myself and feeling accomplished when each one is met. I have a feeling that it will be a wonderful year and I'm going to take time to make myself happier.

What are some goals you have for yourself? Do you also have a list of goals that you have for yourself? I'd love to know and be able to hear those goals!

xoxo

a hiatus.

 

I'll be taking a break from the blogging community for a week or so. Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it! I need some time to myself to figure out what it is I really want to put in and get out of this blog. One of those things is to make my content more interesting for my readers instead of random posts of recipes and my weekly instagram photos. I'm going to work VERY hard to make this blog better in the next couple weeks and when it comes back it will be greater than ever! I'm very excited for the things I already have in mind.

So, for now, I bid you adieu; I'll see you very shortly, I promise. 

 

xoxo.

my week in instagrams.

Monday: My sister and I painted some planter's pots (we got the idea from here.); I found a real funny questionon my take-home exam; Also, I found a dog outside!

 

Tuesday: Tequila hung out with me while I got ready for the day; I went up to Oakland University for orientation and to schedule my first two semesters there (and let me tell you, nothing has crushed my spirits more than sitting at a computer for an hour and realizing how much longer I have left of school, that I can't take the classes that I want to take, and that I have to change my minor. Not cool); I made up for all the disappointment by going to dinner + shopping with Chelsie and my sister Madie

 

Wednesday: Louie and I enjoyed the sunshine; honestly this is getting old....I made french toast yet again (one day I'll share my recipe and show you why it's so unbelievable addicting!)

 

Thursday: It was a sleepy kind of day in the Reyes househole while I just did a ton of homework and went to work.

 

Friday: It was my last day of school and I celebrated by going for a long walk; FINALLY repotting my plants; playing in the hose with Newton; starting to make a scrapbook out of old paper bags.

 

 

I hope everyone has had a great week!

A few side notes:

1. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of those amazing, brave, and strong women who get to call themselves mothers. I admire you greatly; 2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful, amazing, loving mother (she gets two holidays in a row!); 3. Now that this semester is over, you can definitely be looking forward to more regular blogging and I have some AWESOME things planned.

 

xoxo

my week in instagrams.

Monday: I did lots of homework; I made some mushroom lasagna for my family.

 

Tuesday: I bought a new apron; I made french toast for lunch; Louie's eye was bothering him all day :(

 

Wednesday: I got my birthday dress in the mail (my birthday isn't until May 31st, but judging by my excitment, you'd think it was tomorrow); I had some berries; I made buttermilk chicken and cream biscuits for dinner; Louie was cuddling with me very strangly...

 

Thursday: Tequila was dying to get out of his cage and hang out with me; David + I took his nieces to go get some delcious frozen custard.

 

Friday: I made some french toast again; my little brother had his prom at my work and I couldn't have been more thrilled to see him be crowned Prom King (how cute!)

 

Saturday: I got new shoes in the mail; I went to Eastern Market with my mom, my older sister Amanda, and my favorite friend, Maria; Riley had her first dance recital (she was of course the little kid that has absolutely no idea what's going on)

 

hope you had a wonderful week as well!

xoxo

cream biscuits

These biscuits are so yummy! They're the perfect density and awesome to pile on mashed potatoes and corn. mmm! After you've made these, you won't even know what "Pillsbury" is anymore.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees then line one or two (depending on the size) baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Melt 3 tablespoons unsalted butter in a dish and set that aside as well. Sift together 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Solowly fold in 1 1/4 cup heavy cream. If it seems too dry and not easy enough to handle, fold in up to 1/4 cup more of the cream slowly, until it seems the right texture (it should stick together, but not wet enough that there's excess milk that won't mix in properly).

Scoop the dough out onto a lightly floured (and clean!) surface and, using only your hands, make into a ball then press it into 3/4 inch thick. Cut out into rounds using a 2 1/2 inch cookie/biscuit cutter. Make the scraps into another ball and do the steps all over again until you have no dough left. Place the biscuits on the baking sheets and, using a pastry brush, brush on melted butter. (The original directions say to dip the tops into the butter, but I had a hard time doing that with the dough). Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes, or until they are slightly toasted on the tops.

Now, all you have left to do is enjoy!

xoxo

 

Original recipe found here.

my week in instagrams.

Monday: I went to the doctor's; I made cookies that had a huge amount of chocolate in them; I went to my grandparent's for dinner

 

Tuesday: I went out to dinner with my family; I spent my night with David while he was being really goofy and beat me in a game of War

 

Wednesday: I made bacon + chocolate chip pancakes; We celebrated my daddy's birthday

(note: this is chocolate all over Riley; I realize it may look like she had a bad beating.)

 

Thursday: I made homemade ice cream sandwhiches (that will be coming up soon!); I worked on a project for class; David and I went out to dinner

 

Friday: If you haven't noticed already, my Fridays are very bland. I go to school, then I do some homework, then I go to work. So it's things like David bringing me dinner at work, that get me through my Fridays.

 

hope you had a great week as well!

xoxo

bacon + chocolate chip pancakes.

I'm afraid that you may have read that wrong. I know you might have read that as though I had made chocolate chip pancakes with a side of bacon. No, I assure you that this was not what happened. I made bacon and chocolate chip pancakes. As in, there is salty, savory bacon, and gooey chocolate chips mixed in the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes you will ever have.

First, cook yourself up some bacon. I used five slices, but you can use more or less depending on how much you love your bacon. Then preheat an electric griddle to 375 degrees, or use a skillet at medium heat. While this warms up, whisk together in a medium to large bowl 2 cups all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 3 tablespoons of sugar.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together 2 large eggs, 3 cups of buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons melted butter. Whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture right before you're ready to put them on the griddle. The batter should have small to medium lumps. If the pancake batter has no lumps they'll turn out too dense. The griddle is ready when you splask a couple drops of water onto the hot skillet and the water bounces off right away.

Using a pastry brush, swipe on a little bit of melted butter. This will make sure there isn't too much butter which will make your pancakes taste super fried and gross, but enough so that your pancakes don't stick. I use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop the batter to put on the griddle. Once you put the batter onto the griddle, wait about 20 or 30 seconds then, if you're using the bacon and/or chocolate chips, sprinkle them on top and sort of push them into the batter a little bit. Your pancakes are ready to flip when bubbles start to appear in the batter and they're dry around the edges, enough so that the batter doesn't stick to your spatula when you try to slide it under the pancake. This will take about 2 1/2 minutes or so. It will take less time, only about a minute, to cook on the other side. They should be golden brown on each side.

You can serve these puppies with syrup, butter, powdered sugar, or whipped cream. Or, with nothing at all (they're that good)!

Enjoy!

xoxo

easy homemade gnocchi

I've always been so afraid of making gnocchi cause I thought it was very hard to make. Also, all of the recipes I found involved using a foodmill or potatoe ricer, which are pretty expensive and I try to stay away from buying things that have only one purpose in the kitchen. That is until I found this recipe, which uses just a regular ol' grater. Now, I'm in love and I really can't wait to make them again. Not only are they easy to make, but they're SO cheap and filling!

First things first, preheat your oven to 400 degrees farenheit. Poke holes in 2 pounds of russet potatoes with a fork. Arrange them on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the are tender enough to be punctured easily with a fork. It helps to cook them through if you flip the potatoes around halfway through you're cooking them. Once they're done, let them cool enough that you're able to touch them.

Peel the potatoes, then grate them on the largest holes on a multi-purpose box grater. Put the grated potatoes in a large bowl and mix in 1 lightly beaten egg and 1 teaspoon of salt. A little at a time, add 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. Only add as much as you need to the point where the dough won't stick to your hands. Dependind on how humid it is, you may need a little bit more flour than this.

On a lightly floured surface, dump out the dough and kneed it (as you would bread dough) for about four minutes.

Form the dough into one large ball, then seperate it into six smaller dough balls. Take one of the balls and using your fingertips, roll it into a rope until it's about 3/4 inch thick. Throughout this process, you will probably have to re-flour your surface.

Cut the rope into 1-inch long pieces and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can do a few things at this point. You can either cook the gnocchi now, you could freeze them for later use (it's easiest to store if you freeze them on the sheet AND THEN put them into a freezer bag so as not to end up with a big mushy dough mass), or you could put the traditional gnocchi ridges by using the back of a fork dipped in flour.

To cook the gnocchi, bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil. With a large slotted spoon, place the gnocchi into the boiling water (placing them on the spoon then in the water makes sure that you won't get hot, salty water splashed all over your face). Once the pasta floats to the top, let them cook for one more minnute. Scoop them out with the slotted spoon, making sure you get the excess water drained off of the pasta. Mix them in with some delicious homemade tomato sauce. Serving this dish with a large salad will fill you up faster than you can say, "wow! This is the most delicious pasta I've ever had!"

 

Enjoy!

xoxo

my week in instagrams.

Don't worry I have fallen off the face of the planet. I've been up to my eyelashes in homework and stress, especially this week. So, unfortunately, until this semester is over expect few posts since I barely have time to breath. But, OH!, once I'm done with school, just WAIT until you see what I have planned. The wait will be well worth it, just hang in there with me for a little longer.

 

Monday: knowing that I was to get chocolate milk after my work out was pretty much the only thing getting me out of bed; Sammy enjoyed the windows being opened; I made some chocolate, m&m brownies; Louie was being awfully affectionate.

 

Tuesday: I doodled on my wrist; I got to hold this little bundle of cuteness; Louie got real annoyed with Newton...as usual.

 

Wednesday: I got my KONY2012 package in the mail (finally!); I went to the library to pick up some books.

 

Thursday: Such a wonderful day for food. David and I made french toast sandwhiches with turkey sausage + egg + cheese; I made some delicious cupcakes; I had chicken + biscuits + gravy + mashed potatoes for dinner.

 

Friday: clearly we worked very hard as we all tried tying knots in cherry stems with our tongues; David and I had some ice cream in bed; Louie was a little jealous.

 

Saturday: I spent all day at work and so my brother brought me lunch because he's so sweet.

 

xoxo!

my week in instagrams.

This week was more full of cleaning, homework, and work than it was play. It was about a 2:1 ratio sadly. Not only does this make me a sad girl, but it also means there a few pictures from my week that are worth sharing. But those that I do have for you, I hope make up for it. It's quality not quantity, right? Enjoy!

Monday: I wore stripes + chambray; I went to the zoo with my family; Chelsie, Rachel, and I had a night in watching The Titanic.

 

Tuesday: I did a whole lot of school work, cleaning, and working. However, I did get a chance to stop by to see David (where I did a lot of homework.)

 

Wednesday: I went to the doctor's office with my mother; I took a trip to the library where I returned some old books and found a book that I'm pretty sure was made specifically made for my sister.

 

Thursday: I ate a mallow cup; I convinced my bird to come out of his cage.

 

Friday: I made my hair fancy; I taught Omar how to use Instagram.

 

Saturday: Due to rain, my mom and I weren't able to take our weekly trip to Eastern Market, but I did get a chance to sleep in with Sammy; I had some fried mushrooms; I came home to a very nosy dog.

 

p.s. I meant to post this yesterday, but just as I was finishing up my power went out due to a windy thunderstorm going on here in the Mitten.