Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Aka: basic things to know how to cook when you move out of your parents' house. I had this urge this past weekend to make cookies, so we did! Just like I used to with my mom and sister :)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp warm water

1 bag (12-oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.

3. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until combined.

4. Stir in flour, a little bit at a time, then baking soda, and salt. If you need some extra liquid, add no more than a Tbsp of warm water.

5. Using a wooden spoon, slowly add in the chocolate chips to your batter.

6. Using a table spoon, scoop dough onto a non-stick or sprayed cookie sheet and pop into the oven. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are browned and the center remains slightly soft.

7. Enjoy!

What have you been cooking lately??

Love,

Sara :)

Books Books Books: Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu

I'm finally getting back into the book reviewing! I'm excited and hopefully you are too! Here goes my first book review back from my time off. :P

When I was in high school, we had a foreign exchange student come and visit from Thailand. Until then, I had never really been exposed to the Thai culture, all I knew was they had elephants and spicy food. My foreign exchange brother, as my sister and I called him, had a dream of someday opening his own restaurant, which of course led to him cooking for us once or twice. He also found a delicious restaurant in Milwaukee where we ended up going several times throughout his stay that served authentic Thai food. I think it was at that point that I fell in love with Thai cuisine. Nearly eight years later, this cookbook has fully renewed that love for Thai food.

Leela Punyaratabandhu has done an amazing job with bringing out the beauty and subtle complexity that Thai food offers. As soon as I opened the book, I was struck by the colorful pictures and ended up paging through the book first just to see the bright colors of the food that I could not wait to cook in my own kitchen. Her descriptions of each dish at the start were funny and felt homey at the same time, with a friendly voice to the narrations and optional American alternatives that make each dish more available to those of us unable to order completely authentic ingredients.

As with many different authentic cuisine books, some of the ingredients were a bit more on the pricy side, so for people on a limited budget it is a bit more difficult. It also is not a cookbook that is friendly towards certain dietary restrictions, just as a forewarning. Another thought to be noted is that this cookbook is not for those looking for a quick meal; the recipes are complicated and require several ingredients that most households would not normally have in order to attain the unique Thai flavors. However, the aroma that filled my apartment as I tried my hand at Leela's recipes is one that will bring your friends and neighbors knocking to try a taste.

I hope that you get the opportunity to try out some of these recipes, which I will be posting a few of my own vegetarian alterations as well as possibly some chicken recipes as soon as I get my act together.

Love,
Sara :)

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Weekend Links

Since I'm not posting on weekends (and struggling with the posting otherwise) I've decided to give you guys a post of what I've found looking around the internet during my 'free time', meaning while I'm sitting at work between clients, don't tell my boss. I hope you guys enjoy!

• Found this blog while looking through Bloglovin, and these look delicious!
• Also this bread sounds like a much better breakfast than my current cereal.
• Officially adding these countries to my travel list, several were already there, but now the rest are too!
• As some of you way know, I'm now registered on this site and just got my cookbook in the mail! I can't wait to start!
• Just because I'm mostly vegetarian doesn't mean I can't appreciate delicious looking chicken like this.
• If you're looking to travel to the Galapagos, Ecuador, or Peru this could be a great place to look.
• And you have to admit that a chair like this would be awesome!
• I have to end on this though, I think we all sometimes need the reminder...

It's amazing how much is really out there if you just take the time to look. What have you guys found recently?

Love,
Sara :)

Blogging for Books

Due to my recent desire to read, but the lack of actually following through with it, I have joined a website called Blogging for Books. I still plan to finish the books I had listed in my Summer Reading List, but now will be receiving books in the mail to read and review online here. I am excited to get back into the swing of writing reviews for the books I read and really thinking about them instead of just jumping into the next one like I have been doing recently.

The premise of this website seems to be to allow book lovers to read and rate books for free. Which in my opinion, is awesome! I can order one book at a time and need to post a review within 90 days of receiving the book. This review should be posted both on the Blogging for Books blog and on my blog as well, meaning it will show up here! After posting a review I can request a new book.

I am super excited to get started with this and look forward to my first book, Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu, which is coming in the mail! I can't wait to share these reviews. I know this blog isn't very widely read but these reviews are for those who do get the chance to get on and read. You are awesome!

Love,
Sara :)

Spicy Thai Noodles

It's been a while since I've had the time to sit down and make a meal. Since moving, my apartment mate, Morgan, and I have found ourselves in a bit of a conundrum. We have quite different work schedules which lead her to leave the apartment by 6:45am and get back after school gets out, but due to her early morning she is in bed pretty early (by my standards). I, on the other hand, get done with work much later and by the time I get home Morgan is getting ready for bed. Suffice to say, we hardly ever eat dinner together.

However, this month we are home together for dinner two nights during the week, which is awesome! This lead us to think about making food, which is something that I enjoy doing (when time permits) and she enjoys as well. So, what did we do this past Tuesday night? Wine and cooking! It was great!

We found this recipe on Pinterest (as do so many people) and connected to a clog called A Small Snippet. It's pretty cool, and we used this recipe with a few adjustments of our own, so enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 box linguine pasta (we used whole grain cause it's yummy)
1 tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes (unless you are actually Thai, I would not recommend adding more than that, it's quite spicy!)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sesame oil
6 tbsp. honey
6 tbsp. soy sauce
toppings (we used carrots, but couldn't find peanuts at our grocery store...fail)

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to directions until al dente. Drain.
2. Heat both oils and crushed red pepper over medium heat un a small pan for about 2 minutes. During this time the red pepper will infuse into your oil mixture making it hotter. After, make sure to strain out the red pepper flakes, you can leave a few more in if you want some extra heat, but that's kinda crazy.
3. Into your oil mixture, whisk in your honey and soy sauce.
4. Toss mixture together with the noodles and refrigerate.
5. Slice up your carrot or peanuts or whatever topping(s) you have chosen.

They will keep for a few days, you can eat them cold or warm, and serve with milk and enjoy!

I had to add in a picture with our glasses because I think they are super fun and cute with the polka dots :)

What did you guys think? Worth trying? I think for sure! What types of food should we try next?
Also, as a hint, red wine does not really go with spicy food, so make sure to have milk with these noodles to help with the spicy-ness.

Love,
Sara :)

Eating Healthy on a Budget

We've had nearly two weeks living on our own and we've come up with a sort of routine already. Neither of us tend to be home together a lot just due to the circumstances of our jobs, and that seems to work out just fine. We are great when it comes to communicating and letting each other know when the boys are coming over or other friends or the such.

We have also gotten pretty good at grocery shopping, which is interesting cause when I talk to other people about roommates and cooking and food they seem to do things differently. All I can say is that we are splitting the cost of food and that is working very well.

This brings me to a thought that I had concerning this sort of cooking. Maybe it's the personal trainer in me....idk! Is it possible to eat healthy and not break the bank with organic foods? Turns out yes, it is! Here are a few things I've learned through research as well as just from experience.

1. When going grocery shopping, have a list and stick to that list. It helps to plan your meals ahead of time so you know exactly what you will need.

2. Eat seasonally. Produce is cheaper while it is in season, not to mention it is easier to find and tends to taste a lot fresher. This can also be achieved by going to farmers' markets. I know my area does have winter farmers' market, check and see if your area does! I'm hoping to go this month and see how prices look and see what they have in general!

3. Cook large amounts of food and freeze portions for later. This includes rice, beans, meat, veggies, etc. Honestly, this is very useful. If you are planning on keeping your stuff in the freezer for a while, make sure you put the date on the container or bag so you know how old they are!

So, yea. I hope that these are helpful! Yay for healthy eating while not breaking the bank!
How do you eat healthy? I love hearing responses!

Love,
Sara :)

ps. I am working on making some fun magnets, time has just not been on my time lately....

Beans and Barley

I have been looking around for a nice cafe in the Milwaukee area that is great for vegetarians, such as myself. For my upcoming grad party (Sunday! Scary!), we found a place called Beans and Barley where who specialize in vegetarian and vegan meals. Don't panic, you meat-lovers, there is chicken offered there as well. Located in Milwaukee on 1901 E North Avenue, this restaurant also doubles as a deli where you can buy delicious and healthy food or order catering or pick up containers of food for your next party.

The restaurant is very neat, with an open feel to it and a friendly atmosphere presented by friendly staff who know the food and drinks like the back of their hand. I will share with you what I had to eat there because it really made a lasting impression on me! There are pictures to accompany my review. I'm feeling organized today :D

They have a good assortment of teas and smoothies, as well as espressos, coffees, ciders, and juices. However, unlike most restaurants, they only carry root beer, lemon lime soda, and ginger ale as far as soda is concerned. I tried the Citron Oolong tea and it was quite good.

Moving on to dinner itself, I had one of the most delicious burritos I've had in a long time. When I first looked at the menu, this item caught my eye and when the waitress was recommending food, this one came up as having a following of customers. It sounded like a good choice so I chose the Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito. OMG! If you ever go to Beans and Barley, this is something that you HAVE TO TRY, assuming you like black beans, sweet potatoes, guacamole, corn, and rice. It was absolutely delicious! You could taste every aspect of the burrito and it was filling but healthy so I didn't feel bad eating nearly the entire thing, along with all the nacho chips and salsa on my plate. I highly recommend this dish! I am thinking of trying to replicated this dish sometime...when I get a handle on cooking...

As soon as I saw the desert menu I knew that I couldn't leave without trying some dessert. So, between my parents and I, we ordered a slice of Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie and a Mango Smoothie. These were also both well worth getting. The pie was interesting because instead of dicing up the rhubarb, they actually left it in large chunks but cooked it down enough so that it was not bitter much at all and was quite sweet, tasting more of strawberries. The Mango Smoothie was a combination of mango, banana, and mango juice and tasted as such.

Summary: I recommend anyone who is in the Milwaukee area to try out the restaurant or at least some of their food when you get the chance :) It is completely worth it!

Also, sorry for being absent lately, I'm working on a very strange schedule that involves overnight shifts three nights a week while working days and planning for a grad party with over 50 people on Sunday and trying to find more jobs, and thinking about moving and yea....it's getting kinda crazy, and I was under the impression that things got easier after college. That would be a no go my friends! It's just as complicated and crazy, if not more so in the real world. I find myself already missing that college bubble I had...

Love,

Sara :)

Foodie Friday: Lazy Day

Hey, so I was planning on sharing a recipe that I made, but I didn't actually cook anything yesterday... In other words, I understand that feeling people talk about getting when they just don't want to cook anything. I ended up making some potato soup from a box. I do have a few things I would like to try making soon, but we take it one day at a time. I also made pancakes yesterday, they turned out like pancakes but the batter I used was not what I'm used to, so they turned out tasting a little strange...I promise that I'm really not a bad chef! I just have days that are not days that I can cook well :P

Happens!

Love,

Sara :)

Food Testing

Food brings people together, and what better time to do this than during a graduation party? I have just finished typing up and will be sending out my grad party invites tomorrow! The party itself is next month, Sunday, August 11 and until then (and after) I will be trying different types of recipes in hopes of being able to make some homemade lunch food on that day! :) I know that's ambitious but I also have found that I really enjoy cooking!

Going along with that, there will probably be more posts on food starting either tonight or tomorrow since I will be making dinner on thursdays for the rest of the summer and as long as I'm living here. I'm starting tonight with a recipe that I found in a magazine called 'Eating Well'. You will soon see what it is :D

Love you all!
Sara :)

Musica Monday

For today's music, I'm going to take a quick trip back to 2010 and to a band that has brought us 2 CDs in 2011: Foster the People. An indie pop band, founded in 2009 by lead vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist, Mark Foster. This song "Pumped Up Kicks" is a popular song that I have just been thinking about and has been stuck in my head quite a bit lately, so I've decided to share it with you all! I hope you enjoy :)

Quick side note: today I learned that I like apricots! So, I'm excited to have a new snack fruit, as well as to try some new recipes including these little peach/plum-like balls of yellow-orange deliciousness! More of those to follow I hope :P

A shorter post today, but I wanna get outside and enjoy our beautiful weather :D

Love,

Sara :)

Graduation!!!

So, for those of you who don't know, I am (more like WAS!) a college senior. Well, no longer!! Today was graduation!! I'm not exactly positive if it has fully hit me yet that I'm graduated and heading off into the real world in a few months. I've gotta get my feet on the ground first, this being literal and figurative. Literal because I still have a broken foot and am going to be having surgery, hopefully, at some point this week (update on that to be coming later), and figurative because I don't have enough to pay for an apartment, don't have a job and don't really have much of a plan at this point, so I'm going to figure that out before I make my move (most likely to Minnesota, which will also be part of a later update).
This leads to the question that I get asked all the time now: What are your plans for after graduation? Well, honestly, all I got right now is that I need to have surgery and get my body physically healed before starting off on the next great adventure of my life. I will say that I am hoping to be able to blog a lot more now since I won't have classes or homework or tests to worry about (at least for now...), so I'm hoping that my writing will be getting better, I mean I hope that even by now it's getting a bit better, but I know that it will take time and practice before I really figure out my plans for the future as well as my style. There are many things that I hope to do in the future including: traveling, moving out of my parents' house, getting a job (or a few), learning how to cook better, learning more about wine, and drinking more coffee just to name a few. Sounds fun right? That's what I think at least, and I look forward to each and every one of them in my quest to learn more about the world around me and enjoy what life has to offer and make the most of what I can! Life is full of choices and chances, so I plan on doing what I can and taking risks when necessary and dealing with whatever consequences and hurdles the world throws in my path, because one of the most important things I learned in colleges is that I can be confident in who I am because I can make a difference and I matter to the world, whether the world knows it or not yet, I matter and so does each and every person!
Ok, done with my little soapbox here, but honestly I am still trying to figure out my life and I know that there are going to be trials and tough times but they will be worked through with a little help from my friends and family :)
I leave you all with a lovely picture of the sunrise this morning (yes, I got up and watched it at 5:30am) and one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes: "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." (Oh, the Places You'll Go) :P thought it was appropriate. I hope you enjoy and don't mind my ranting too much :P

                                      

Love you all!

Happy Sunday, it's the start of a brand new week for us all, so let's make the most of it!

Sara :)

Hamburger Cookies

Alright, I'm not sure how many of you have heard about these wonderful inventions called hamburger cookies. I was introduced to these little cookies by Matt on Christmas Eve day! They are pretty simple to make and also very cute, perfect for the holidays or pretty much any other occasion you could think of! The overall rating is that they are better than regular burgers :P

The ingredients are simple: vanilla wafers, chocolate covered mint cookies (girl scout thin mints are best), vanilla frosting (to be dyed red), coconut shavings (the kind that we sometimes put on top of cupcakes and the like, to be dyed green), and green and red food dyes.

To create the "lettuce" and "ketchup": Take about half a container of vanilla frosting and add a few drops of red food coloring (it is more pink, but that's alright, you can't have everything) which will make your "ketchup"/glue. For the "lettuce", take about half or more of a bag of coconut shavings and add just 2 or 3 drops of green food coloring (it is strong stuff) and combine them in a ziplock bag, close the bag, and shake it up until all the coconut shavings are a light green color. You can leave some parts white if you want it to seem more like iceberg lettuce, or dye it a darker green for a shredded spinach look, it's completely up to you!

To combine and create a hamburger:
1- Take one vanilla wafer and spread it with a thin layer of your "ketchup" on the flat side.
2- Set one mint cookie on top for your "burger patty"
3- Spread another layer of "ketchup"
4- Add in a pinch of your "lettuce", or until you are satisfied with the amount
5- Take another vanilla wafer cookie and spread the flat side with "ketchup" (the ketchup on this layer is optional, if your burger will stay together without it, then it isn't needed, but we might have added a bit too much lettuce and needed some extra glue to hold it all together)
6- Place this second wafer cookie on top of the lettuce and Ta Da! You have a hamburger cookie!

For a visual reference, check the picture below. I did not get any pictures of actually making the cookies, but I can assure you that if you have more than one person it goes by very quickly, we were able to make two platefuls (about 18 cookies each plate) in under an hour. Best part: NO BAKING INVOLVED! This is a perfect last minute cookie idea!

What we are trying to come up with now are variations on this burger. I mean burgers are awesome, but what about adding cheese? Or two thin mints as a double burger? We haven't come up with anything to use for the cheese, any suggestions from readers? I'd really appreciate it, and promise to try it out and report my findings :P

Well I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, or a wonderful past few days. We've been running around visiting family and friends for the past few days so it's been a little nuts, and I'm taking whatever time I can to blog and/or craft. I'm currently working on a few ideas for New Years that I will share when I finish at least one of them! I am also now back at my grandma's house so there may or may not be a post about the neat things around her house tomorrow or something.

As always, your replies are always appreciated and more than welcome! Happy Hump Day! :D

Love,

Sara :)

Night Out with the Roommate

So tonight was a night out with the roommate after an already busy week! We went out and ate dinner at Applebee's then headed to Target to get some supplies for Christmas time! This included wrapping paper and a bag for another gift I already bought.

For an appetizer, we had Pretzel Sticks with Beer cheese sauce. If you go to Applebee's you must get these!! They were by far one of my favorite things I have ever had there! I highly recommend them!

For dinner Morgan (my roommate, pictured above) had steak with shrimp. It looked really good! And she said it was quite good :)

I had a shrimp pasta plate that was delicious and spicy! Which is what I look for in a good dinner :) tasty, many flavors, pasta, and shrimp. Yes, I am a vegetarian, but more it is that i don't eat most meat, but I still eat seafood, eggs, and milk. More for the health aspect than anything else.

Then Morgan got some wine :) And I got myself a frozen mango margarita :)

We had good fun! I think that more will come in the future which is nice cause it was good to get away from the campus for a while and just talk to a friend! Where do you guys like to go to get away from your life? What would you suggest?

Happy Hump Day!

Love,

Sara :)

Break Update

Hey guys!
So as you may have learned/guessed, it's Thanksgiving Break currently (yay!!), which means I'm home for the first time this school year :). I do enjoy being home, but unfortunately, being in the middle of a busy and slightly stressful semester of college, I have homework to do over break as well. I will give you a quick little run down of what has been happening so far during my break.
To start off with, I got home late Tuesday night (meaning a bit after 10 pm). I got to say hi to my family and meet our new cat, Dorito (I will have some pictures up of Dorito in a later post, probably tomorrow), and try out a new coffee machine that we have (pretty snazy!). On Wednesday, we cleaned the entire house, which really took most of a day, we also got food ready for the family that was coming up for Thanksgiving on Thursday (yesterday). I got to cut up the cheese and sausage and arrange them on the plate. That night I visited Matt for a while and we talked about Thanksgiving, school, made some plans for Friday, and just enjoyed each other's company.
Thanksgiving day (happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!) was a very busy day that included lots of food preparation and I was placed in charge of the stuffing, gravy, creamed corn, and sweet potatoes. Also, I was by the microwave, so when relatives brought in mashed potatoes and rolls, I heated them up. We had many people at our house yesterday for thanksgiving, I believe it was around 16-20 people, it was nice to be able to catch up with the family and to see them again. We haven't all been able to get together in several months, I believe the last time was June and before that was last December! While not everyone was able to make it, the majority was and that was very nice to have :)
Today is a homework day. I'm hoping to get most, if not all of my outline done for my history research paper done. The outline itself is due on Monday, and is a big part of our grade for the paper. I'm going to be working on that until around 4, when I'm heading out to dinner with Matt, and then we are going rock climbing with his sister and her boyfriend. I hope to get a majority of this (if not all!) outline done before 4 pm, and then to have a good time tonight! :)
How was everyone's Thanksgiving? What are some of your plans for the rest of the week? Did anyne go to Black Friday?
Have a great day!
Love,
Sara :)

Simple Cinnamon Chips

Alright, so I subscribe to very few magazines. One that I will actually sit down and read is Fitness Magazine. In the back of each magazine they have different recipes that I may or may not try depending on what they are. I found one in last month's (July/August) that was pretty good. While I don't have the actual magazine in from of me, I have a really simple recipe for some cinnamon chips that were included, with my own little twist (or change cause I'm cheap).
So we use corn tortillas, and all you have to do is cut them into triangles. I use the small corn tortillas and cut them into 6 triangles each. Spray a cooking sheet with cooking spray (here I used spray olive oil, yes such a thing exists!) and then lay out as many tortilla triangles as you can/want onto the sheet. Now you can either spray they over with a slightly thicker layer of spray on olive oil, or you can paint on melted butter, it all depends on personal taste (I prefer the butter, it tastes better!). Then sprinkle ground cinnamon over the top and bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. The time to cook may vary depending on the oven you use, I know that my oven at home takes longer because it's slow at heating up. You want your chips to be crispy but not burnt.
They are quite good, you can then dip them in yogurt of applesauce, whatever strikes your fancy!

Give a new recipe a try! Don't worry about it, just try something new. Experimenting is how things get started, I advise against setting the kitchen on fire and what not, but these things do happen at times I suppose. Have fun in the kitchen and try new things!
Have a good night!
Love,
Sara :)

Strawberry-Rhubarb Mini Pie

So, I was getting bored tonight and my dad reminded me that we had rhubarb and I was really the only one who has cooked it before. So, I went to the kitchen and started making my grandmother's rhubarb sauce. This includes slicing up the rhubarb, and putting it in a sauce pan with warm water. I then brought it gradually to a boil while gradually adding the rhubarb. When the rhubarb gets soft and starts reducing then I added some sugar and brown sugar (this is to taste!). After I had a thought, why not add some strawberries and make it into a pie? So I did! I sliced several strawberries and added them to the boiling water, I then reduced the heat and let it simmer. This sauce was absolutely amazing!!
The reason I made mini pies was because the crust that I used was kinda old...so there was a huge hole in the middle of it when I tried to heat it up. I followed the instructions that were on the box for the pie crust and then added my strawberry-rhubarb and put it back into the oven for a short period of time, just to reheat and get ready to eat.
Enjoy my newest attempt at improvisation food!
Here's a pic of the finished product :P :D
Tasty!

Alright that's all for now folks!
Don't be afraid to experiment in the kitchen....but for the most part explosions aren't the best thing, so try and avoid those in the kitchen!
Good night!
Love,
Sara :)