Fall drink

Hello blogging world. I have disappeared for a bit but I am hoping to reappear now for awhile. I feel like my blog needed a break, I needed to step back and see what was working and what wasn't working. I noticed I wasn't writing for fun, but because I felt I needed to. So, I wanted to make sure this was for me- not just because. So, I am starting fresh- a clean slate- to try again. I am hoping this refresh will get my butt in gear and start creating again, which it already has. I have a recipe at the bottom of this post. However, I felt it was time to reintroduce myself.

I am Jenn. Sometimes it's Jenny. Othertimes it's Bean. Or even J. It depends on who asks. I live in Chicago, but am from Michigan. I miss Michigan and the woods, the prairie doesn't suit me. I like a cup of flavorful tea (Caprihana is my favorite right now), cute boys (mainly my dashing & adorable husband, Keith), puppies (my dog is a peach, her name is Loki), history (I am pretty much an amateur scholar of US presidents) and anything sparkly. I have three nieces, a sister, amazing parents,  a handful of in-laws, a loving husband and a bunch of friends (including MEG who co-owns this blog, but is a very busy lady!). I am often daydreaming of Scotland, Mackinac Island, what I am buying/making people for Christmas, new recipes and how I wish I lived in a cool Victorian house. I love music, laughing and reading. But most of all I love creating.

Okay, so that's me. Boring stuff done. NOW, let's get on to a fall drink that I stumbled on and decided to try out. A pumpkin white russian.

So, what I did was get a tumbler, place some ice in the tumbler. Pour in an ounce of pumpkin flavored vodka, followed by an ounce of Kahlua. I then finished it up with milk and gave it a stir. To really set off the pumpkin flavor I added some pumpkin pie spice on top. Deeelicous.  Of course, with any milk based drink, I can only really stomach one- however that one was really tasty. Remember: drink responsibly.

Recipe: Butterscotch Cookie Butter Fudge

Oh my gosh, I re-found cookie butter (from Trader Joes). I found a jar in my cabinet, next to a bag of butterscotch chips, that I haven't used in forever and was fast approaching the expiration date. Today was a rough day and Keith went back to school so I was trying to pass time until he could come home so I decide to make one of the best things ever---fudge.

What you need:

• 1 14 oz can of sweetened condense milk
• 12 oz of butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup of cookie butter
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Get out a 8 x 8 pan and spray it with cooking spray. Mix sweetened condense milk, butterscotch chips and cookie butter in a pan and heat over medium to low heat. Stir regularly until all (okay, or most) of the chips have melted. Turn heat to low and add vanilla. Stir just 5 more second and remove from heat. Pour mixture into pan and put in the fridge for a few hours.

This recipe yields a lot. BUT, it yields a lot of deliciousness!!! Enjoy!

Recipe: Vanilla Lemonade

Today was a gloomy day. You know those days when it DOWNPOURS all day and then turns into 80 plus temps with humidity. Plus it just wasn't a great day. So, I decided to make myself perk up in a delicious way.

I found some delicious, huge lemons. So, of course I need to make myself lemonade, no question.

Here's what you need:
-Juice of 4 lemons
-1/2 cup of sugar
-6 cups of cold water
-1/2 tbsp of vanilla
-Ice

I juiced 4 lemons and then strained it to get out the pulp (yuck!). I added the sugar and vanilla. Then I poured in the water and stirred until dissolved. Add ice to your cup and pour. It's delicious!!! This lemonade is a bit tart, because I wanted to cut back on sugar. The vanilla adds something really extra.

Enjoy guys! 

Recipe: Jazzin' up Freezer Rolls

This week has just felt off. Keith is sick and I have been feeling a bit restless. I miss crafting, but am waiting until my craft room is full set up to start making creative messes again. The last few nights have been spent with a quick walk, watching old shows on netflix, lounging on the couch and making food we have had in our freezer for too long. 

So tonight was no different, however I wanted to liven up some frozen rolls I had to go with our ravioli and meatballs.

So I present to you: easy jazzed up rolls

These are boring old freezer rolls. Remove the plastic cover. Preheat the oven to the directions that come with the rolls- ours was 325 degrees. While it preheats, spray on olive oil (we have this handy thing), sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper and seasoning (I used a mix of Italian Seasoning from a local spice shop).

Lookin' Good

Bake the bread to the packaging instructions.

Once baked, eat it up! It's a really good and easy way to make freezer rolls even better! Enjoy!

Three Easy Camping Recipes

We went camping! It was so fun, and new to us. We both have camped throughout our childhood, but this was our first time, only us. So, we went for it. We stayed in Northern Michigan (lower peninsula) at two different campgrounds. One was on Higgins Lake, a beautiful state campground that I used to go to as a child, with my partner of this blog, Megan and our families.

The second camping site was off the coast of Lake Michigan in Mackinaw City. It was one of the most beautiful places I have been.We walked along the beach, went to the city, and even traveled up to the Soo Locks. It was a great trip. Keith and I learned a lot about camping, including how to chop wood, start a great fire and cook some delicious food.

Breakfast Recipe: Breakfast Sandwiches
I don't do eggs, you can add eggs but I found them really gross (I know, I am a wimp when it comes to food textures)

What you need:

• Two slices of bread
• Spreadable butter
• Two turkey sausage patties
• Cheese
• A pie maker
• a fire pit

Make sure you spread an good amount of butter onto the bread so it does not stick to the pie maker. We always heat up our pie maker first in the fire. Then make your sandwich, close the pie maker and put it in the fire. After a few moments check the pie maker, flip or take out. It took about 5 minutes on each side to melt the cheese. Easy and great sandwich.


Lunch Recipe: Hobo Hash

 What you need:

• Aluminum foil
• cooking spray
• hashbrowns (we got the kind in the refrigerated section and kept cool in the cooler)
• shredded cheddar cheese
• pre-cooked chicken sausage
• salt and pepper to taste
• Fire
  

Make sure the fire is nice and hot and has some good amount of coals at the bottom. We actually let the fire die down so that it was only coals. Next I laid down two foil sheets and sprayed the top sheet with cooking spray. Put down hashbrowns, then cheese. I cut up the sausage and put them in too. I rolled up the aluminum foil and we put it right on the coals. Make sure to flip the aluminum foil package halfway through cooking. Ours took about 15 minutes to cook. But it did burn the bottom because we did not rotate it enough.

Dessert Recipe: Peanut Butter Cup S'more

Okay, this isn't really a recipe since everyone knows how to make s'mores. But, try this! Instead of putting a chocolate bar between the graham crackers and marshmallow, replace it with a peanut cup. IT IS A GAME CHANGER! Seriously- you won't regret it.

Okay- well, I hope you enjoy these recipes and now go camping.
 

Recipe: Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

Keith had a birthday last week. So, to celebrate- I threw him a party. We had our great friends come over and eat delicious food and drink and have fun. I made Keith a taco bar, which was awesome! But I also made two special desserts- pretzel gelatin and dirt cake. This post is going to focus on the pretzel jello.

My aunt usually makes this for all our holidays- but in a large batch since we come from a large family. So- I tried to make individual servings. it turned out pretty good.

Ingredients
-1 and a 1/2 cups of crushed pretzels
-4 tablespoons plus 1 cup of sugar
-10 tablespoon of butter
-2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese
-1 tsp of vanilla
-1 (8 ounce) container of frozen whipped topping (thawed)
-1 (6 ounce) package of strawberry gelatin
-2 cups of boiling water
- 1 (16 ounce) package of slices strawberries

The how to:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 I lined up small ramekins on a cookie sheet.Then I ground up the pretzels using a rolling pin.  Combine 4 tablespoons of sugar, melted butter and pretzels in a bowl. I then put the pretzel mixture in the bottom of the ramekins and baked for 6 minutes. Then let it cool completely- I actually left them in the fridge overnight.

Next, I put the cup of sugar, cream cheese and vanilla in my stand up mixer. I mixed those up. I folded the whipped topping into the mixture and blended. Keith help me pipe the cream mixture using a freezer bag with the corner cut off, on top of the pretzel mixture. Then we let it sit for an hour.

I then mixed the boiling water with the gelatin and stir it until it dissolved. While still hot, I mixed in the frozen strawberries. The gelatin was too runny, so I threw it in the fridge for about 5 to 10 minutes, not too long though! I scooped a large amount of the gelatin into each one.

Once all set, let them chill in the fridge for a full hour before serving. I left two without strawberries because I don't like strawberries and some people don't like gelatin. There was extra strawberry gelatin when we made them, but I think that's why.

Enjoy everyone!! 

recipe: delicious waffles recipe for two

Guys, I really like waffles. Every weekend when we lived out in the burbs, Keith made me waffles. You see, we went from not having a single day off together to having Sundays together. It was like a special treat! So, to spoil me, he made me waffles for our Sunday breakfast. And then he went above and beyond by buying me a mickey shaped waffle iron. 

WHAT? I know, great husband, right? So, anyway- yesterday I was a bit down so he whipped me up a batch of waffles to cheer me up. It worked. Here is his easy (but tasty!) recipe for two people!

What you need:

 

Dry Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• (Optional) Dash of Nutmeg
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Cup Flour

Wet Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp melted Butter
• Vanilla (to Taste)
• 3/4 Cup of milk
• 1 Egg

Equipment: Waffle iron

Sift together all the dry ingredients, then add in the wet ingredients.  Scoop into the waffle iron and cook until finish.

I am not the biggest syrup fan, so I put on powdered sugar. Delicious!

Hope everyone has a GREAT week!

Easy breakfast

This weekend has been great! As it comes to a close, Keith and I decided to make breakfast today before we start the work week. Keith made bacon, I made a smoothie and these delicious rolls- they are SO easy! Recipe to follow:

What you need:

• A roll of Grands rolls
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 tbsp of ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to what it says on the Grands tube. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Remove the Grands and put them in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. I made sure I got all sides, including the sides. Repeat until you get all of them. Cook them around 14 minutes. Enjoy :)

A Warm Up Weather Recipe

It's warm! Today reached 70. I can feel summer in the air and it's glorious. I celebrated by buying and planting new plants while listening to records today. It was magical. This weather gets me so ready to go for walks, camp in the woods, eat on the porch and of course, enjoy nice tasty popsicles!

Keith and I invested in a Zoku Quick Pop Maker. And, it's amazing. I toyed around with it for a bit, and thought I would share my favorite recipe: Orange Julius Quick Pops.

What you need:

• 6 ounces of thawed orange juice concentrate
• 1 cup milk (I used fat free)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingriedents in a bowl until well blended. Pour into the Zoku and wait about seven minute, until frozen. Remove with the tool and devour.

Enjoy the warm weather (and the delicious Popsicles!) 

Recipe: No bake cookie butter cookies

Have you tried Cookie Butter yet? I tried it at my old office and it is delicious. I think I could probably sit down and eat it out of the jar, but I am trying to be a little more civilized, so I decided to make some really easy no-bake cookies.

What you need:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• a pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup of cookie butter (we got ours at Trader Joes)
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of quick cooking oats

I started by cutting up the butter and putting the butter, milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan. I heated it until it started to boil, stirring frequently. After it reaches a good boil, do not stir for about one full minute and then remove from heat. Stir in the cookie butter and the vanilla. After that's all blended, stir in the oats. All of the liquid should be soaked up by the oats. One wax paper scoop out a large tablespoon of the cookie butter/oats/butter/delicious mixture. Let them set until fully cooled and enjoy!

seriously guys, these are DELICIOUS.

Recipe: Bread Machine Italian Herb Bread

Blog world, I have been away for a week! But I have some good excuses. I was sick, then I got a new job, and then my sister had her baby. SO, Bottom line, things are coming up (aunt) Jenn. So, I apologize for the lack of posts recently, but I promise I will be better.

Tonight, I decided to make my favorite bread machine recipe. Italian herb bread! The photo is not great, BUT this recipe is awesome.

What you need:

• 1 cup of water
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of white sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 and 1/2 cups of bread flour
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of italian seasoning blend (I added more)
• breadmachine

Place everything in bread pan, make sure you follow your machine's directions. Select white bread cycle (or light crust) My machine makes you add the "add-ins" i.e. seasoning and pepper in after the initial rise and mixing.  (about after 45 minutes) but every bread machine is different so read your instructions.

Enjoy!

Hemingway Cocktail

Last year, around this time I read my first Hemingway book, A Moveable Feast. I feel in love instantly and couldn't put it down. His words were amazing and I wanted to be there to experience Paris in the 1920s. It was such a glorious book, I would say it change my life even for that brief little period. I talked about it constantly, I wanted to live it, etc etc. But, alas I have put off reading more Hemingway in case I didn't like it as much. 

Since I read that book, I have had a soft spot for Hemingway. I defended his honor in discussions of good authors a few time, but I felt bad because I only had the one book to basis on and of course what you hear. So, here it is, I cave. I'm reading another Hemingway starting tonight.

In honor of this, I present you with a delicious Daiquiri, especially made for Mr. Hemingway. This recipe can vary, but this is the one I really like. 

• 1 ounce of white rum 
• 1/4 ounce of maraschino liqueur
• 1/2 ounce of grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed is best!)
• 3/4 ounce of simple syrup
• 3/4 ounce of fresh lime juice

Shake all ingredients and strain into a cocktail glass. I put a cherry in there for good measure too. 

 

This drink is very tasty. drink responsibly. 

and seriously, do yourself a favor and read A Moveable Feast. 

A cheer up recipe: Thin Mint Milkshake

So, every now and then we all need a cheer up. So, Keith was in need of a cheer up, so I made him the best thing I could think of: 

A THIN MINT MILKSHAKE

Yep, I said it. And it was delicious. 

what's in it? 3 scoops of low fat vanilla milk shake, 1.5 cups of skim milk and 5 thin mints. I topped it with fat free cool whip and half a thin mint. Keith loved it and I hope you do too!

Enjoy :)

Cold weather recipe

This winter has been brutal in Illinois, almost to the point where I don't want to go out once the sun has set. The snow has come down really heavy and the cold has been REALLY cold. We even had cold days at work, COLD DAYS! Keith had 4, I had 2. CRAZY. Now, people have somewhat adjusted to the cold, but everyone is in a bad mood and wear way too many layers, myself included. One of those really cold nights, I reached for one of my favorite recipes. It always warms me up, and it makes me think of my mom's dad, my Grandpa L. This is his recipe for Tater Tot Casserole

What you need:
1/2 a bag of frozen tater tots
1 lb of ground beef
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (we used reduced fat)
milk
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

What to do:

Brown the meat. While browning the meat, preheat the oven to 350. Once you cook the meat, drain and place in the bottom of a casserole dish. Like so: 

Next, layer on half the bag of frozen tater tots-still frozen

In a bowl mix the can of cream of mushroom soup and half a can of milk together. Then pour on top the layers of beef and tater tots.

Next, add the cheddar cheese on top. Place in the oven and cook for about 30-40 minutes. I always start checking at like 20 minutes just to double check.

Pull out of the oven and eat! It really is so delicious and filling. It's not great for you, but it's not as bad as it sounds either and it really is perfect on those cold nights where all you want to do is cuddle with a blanket, drink tea and stare at the tv.

Stay warm out there kids.

Recipe: Wine Float

My friend and I joke about making wine spritzers all the time with pop added to wine. Usually I add a lemon-lime soda to my red wine to cut it and to bring up a white I like a flavorful pop, like a berry. So when Megan came over, we decided to try out some wine floats.

You need a sweet pop, we picked strawberry, vanilla ice cream and a white wine, we picked moscato. I supplied the cups and Meg supplies the cute straws!

Ice cream first! Delicious. Then add a little bit of pop. Not too much or no wine will fit in! Then fill the rest of the way with the wine.

Delicious. Enjoy responsibly.

Valentine's Float

I'm a little late to the party. Apparently Valentine's Day was last Friday. I spent it at work, then last minute cleaning, and finally with Keith and Megan! But anyway, Keith came in the door with a bottle of wine and flowers yelling Happy Valentines. I got him a nerf gun and coffee. True.LOVE

I am a big fan of ice cream, so we made this Valentine's Float. It's really easy and realllllly tasty.

Put two scoops of ice cream into a cup, fill the rest with cherry 7Up. Top with whipped cream and a cherry. DELICIOUS!

Recipe: crockpot pork chops

You guys! I made the best dinner ever yesterday. So, Keith has been REALLY busy this semester with his promotion at work and a harder semester at school and now, his show got picked up for another run; we barely see each other!So, I haven't felt like cooking much for just one and I have been making easy food. So, this weekend I wanted to try something new (and still easy)

Okay, I didn't take any photos of the making, just the finished product. So, here's what you need!

• 4-6 pork chops (I got boneless)
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 can of chicken broth (we got organic, low sodium)
• 1 packet of brown gravy
• 1 packet of onion soup 
• Crockpot

Put the pork chops in the bottom of the crockpot.  In a bowl, mix the other ingredients together until its all blended. Pour the mixture over the pork chops. Cook in the crockpot for about 8 to 10 hours on low, or until the pork is tender and ready to fall apart. I cooked ours for 8 hours on low. Then I also served with homemade mashed potatoes and zucchini.  Of course use the gravy from the crockpot on top of the mashed potatoes. DELICIOUS.

Keith said this is one of the best meals I have ever made and it was so so so easy.

Anyway! Enjoy.

Travel bug and tea cocktail recipe

Recently, I have been feeling the urge to travel. It's getting bad enough that I am daydreaming and planning these trips that we can't really afford to go on  right now. You know, a whirlwind four week vacation around the UK and Ireland. Not going to happen any time soon. I suppose it's because I have been reflecting a lot about my 20s, with a "big" birthday less then a week away. One of the highlights was my bout in Scotland. I adored it and now I want to go back and see more of the UK, and especially Scotland. And I want to go back with Keith.

I started drinking tea while I worked at a museum there. It was a nice way to stop what I was doing and take a quick break with some co-workers. So, I got to love black tea with cream and some sugar. Since leaving, I only drink black tea now- nothing added. I drink tea everyday, and I just adore it so much. The other day, I wanted some tea with an extra kick- so I tried this recipe. and man, did it not disappoint.

I give you: The Tea Cocktail

First things first- cut up about 5-7 strawberries and put them in a mason jar. Add one cup of vodka and give it a quick shake. Add a teabag into the strawberries and vodka- any flavor. I used black tea one time, and the next time I used cinnamon and vanilla black tea and it was delicious.  Let this steep for about an hour. 

Once that hour is almost up, start juicing some lemons to make freshly squeezed lemon juice. You need one cup, which turned out to be 2.5 lemons, although that might vary. Pour the one cup of lemonade into a pitcher and add 1/4 cup of sugar to sweeten. Stir.

After the hour of brewing, remove tea bag and throw away. Then pour the vodka/tea/strawberry mixture into the pitcher with lemon juice and sugar. Stir to mix everything up. Pour over ice and then add seltzer water to top off the drink. This mixture should make four cups.

This drink is good. Very refreshing. The tea is very tasty and perfect for a tea lover. But it is a bit strong, just remember to drink responsibly.

Happy making!