Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I have been pretty obsessed lately with trying out new recipes...so much that I haven't had much time to blog! I will admit that I have spent most of my evenings at home watching Grey's Anatomy and baking up a storm! I made this one recently and brought it into work...it was devoured pretty quickly :)

I found this recipe for Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake on Pinterest...yes I still get most of my new recipes from there. I have been dying to get my hands on some blueberries and bake up something amazing but I wasn't sure exactly what it was I wanted to bake. I scrolled through my Pinterest boards in an attempt to bake something that I pinned awhile back...still trying to be more diligent about actually making the things I pinned. This one just happens to be one that I pinned when I first got hooked on Pinterest.

Wouldn't you love to wake up to this for breakfast?

This recipe was so easy but you do need to have a few things on hand in order to make it. I had to go to the store to pick up the Buttermilk, Blueberries, and Lemon...I just don't keep those stocked!

The first thing you'll want to do is zest your lemon! After you've done that combine your butter, sugar, and lemon.

Set aside and in another bowl toss some flour and your blueberries.

Combine all your ingredients into one bowl and mix just until combined. You'll add your blueberries last and will want to gently fold them into your batter.

Pour into a greased pan and sprinkle with sugar. I used a cake pan because I didn't have a square pan but it worked out just fine. Then you pop that baby into a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

Be prepared for your home to smell lovely! I actually baked this on a Saturday night so I'd have a wonderful breakfast to heat up while enjoying a cup of coffee and my book on Sunday but it was really hard not to eat a slice fresh from the oven.

This recipe was amazing! There was just a slight lemon flavor to it but the blueberries overpowered everything...in a great way! I am a huge fan of anything blueberry flavored so this was a hit for me. And it was wonderful when warmed up in the oven and the microwave!

Just check out those blueberries...YUM!

This amazingly easy and delicious recipe is courtesy of the blog Alexandra Kitchen and you can bet I'll be trying more of her recipes! Make sure to go check out her blog and be sure to try this one if you are a lover of breakfast dishes and blueberries!

I hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Fourth of July!

Weekly Favorites!

One post that I absolutely love to read from other bloggers are the Friday Favorites! I'm not even going to kid myself on this one...last time I tried to do a Friday Favorites I think I may have gotten one done. I have found that by committing myself to doing a post on a specific day I just don't end up doing it. I usually get busy or have nothing to report so instead of committing to listing out my favorites on a Friday...I'm just going to do a weekly favorites. It will probably always be posted on a weekend because no matter what I can find time on a Saturday or Sunday to blog!

So without further ado here is the first of many weekly favorites.

1. I discovered these the other day when I picked up a sandwich from Subway! I've been going out on a limb lately and trying all sorts of new foods! These are hands down a winner!! And bonus less fat!! I am all about lots of flavor and these do not disappoint. If you are a fan of jalapenos at all....which I am a HUGE fan of them....make sure to check these out next time you stop at a sandwich shop or the grocery store!!

2. The local newspaper...hard copy. Whenever my coworkers landlords go on vacation she brings in their daily paper and I always snatch it up! I wait until the end of the day before taking it and then devour it the minute I get home! Don't get me wrong I love that there are so many news sources online and available for free but there is nothing like reading the hard copy of a newspaper. There are so many little articles that I wouldn't find online unless I knew exactly where to look! It also brings me back to when I was younger and I'd get up with Paps in the morning. I would only read the funnies but he'd read the paper and we'd have breakfast together! One of my favorite memories with my Paps!

3. Another perk of work! We have Safeway deliver all of our food items for our new hire Academy as well as our creamers and milk...yes we are very spoiled by our company and they provide us with coffee, half & half, milk, and creamer. It's definitely a major perk...and I do all of the ordering so when we get samples in I get first pick!! I was super excited to get these samples of Quaker Warm & Crunchy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal! You warm up some milk with this and it is delightful! I will definitely be purchasing these as a regular breakfast moving forward!

4. Netflix has been an evil thing for me but I do enjoy it so much! I finally finished watching all of the Sons of Anarchy and I cannot wait until the final season this fall...Until then I knew I needed another new show to start. I'd heard great things about the tv show Scandal and I can officially say that I am obsessed! I cannot stop watching this show! I am already onto season 3 and it takes everything in me to force myself to go to bed at a decent hour. If you haven't checked it out and you enjoy political drama make sure to start from season 1...however be prepared to be hooked from the start!!

5. Country Concerts!! I have forgotten how much I enjoy going to country concerts!! My friend Jules and I scored some free tickets for the Friday night concert where we saw Joe Nichols and Hunter Hayes!! Not only that but our coworker and friend Nicole snuck us into the VIP area and then got us seats up in the front!! We had a blast and it was the perfect way to end the work week!! I cannot wait to go to more country concerts!!

Yup we went Cowboy Hunting :)

 

Hunter Hayes rocked it!!

There you have it folks! These are just a few of my favorites from the past week but if I didn't limit myself to 5!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! I am planning on some new recipes coming up and will be starting up another book soon!

Easy Chicken Pasta Dish

Talk about coming back and then disappearing for a week!! Sorry for that folks, still trying to figure out a good balance of my time. I was planning on blogging mainly on my lunch break at work but I am very fortunate to work for a company where there is always someone around to enjoy lunch with! :)

But what better a time to check in and a share a new recipe on the a Monday evening? I've got my Seahawks on in the background and a cute little Roxy cuddled up next to me!

I just have to share this awesome recipe that I found from Pinterest! It's such an easy but extremely tasty pasta dish that I recommend every one try this recipe!

Without further ado here is the newest dinner recipe to have found a permanent home in our house ----- Farfalle with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce & Pan Seared Chicken Sausage.

I loved this recipe! Added a slice of garlic toast on the side and it was a perfect fall dinner!! And perfect as leftovers! The only small alterations I made to the original recipe was that I used a basil and cheese sausage! I can't remember the brand but I would say pick your favorite and go with that! And the last alteration I made...I left out the spinach!! I really have tried to like spinach but I really think it's never going to happen! :)

Enjoy this recipe and a big thanks to (a)Musing Foodie for sharing the recipe!

Books and Cooks...

Happy Tuesday Everyone!! I hope you all are having a fabulous kick off to your week!!

I am pretty excited for tomorrow as we are having a company party!! For 6 years the company I am working for has been voted Best in the Business and we are celebrating tomorrow!! It should be a blast!!
*Side Note - I was actually laid off from my position last year (12/31/12 to be exact) but I started at my new company this past April and I love it!! :)

I thought today I'd share with you a couple new books and some new foods I've tried recently!

First up the foods....

I always hit up the clearance section at Target because you never know what kind of little items you might find to try out! I usually find small things of flavored coffee to try or flavorings to add to your meals! My other favorite place to browse the food racks is TJ Maxx. Yup TJ Maxx! I always find good flavored coffees there, scone & muffin mixes, and now I've found a Quinoa mix! I have never had Quinoa but figured I'd jump on the band wagon before another health food takes over. Last night I decided to combine my two finds - Lemon & Herb Quinoa with steak marinated in Campbell's Skillet Sauces Fire Roasted Tomato!

I will be honest I have no idea how people can rave about Quinoa the way they do! Perhaps it's because I'm a texture person when it comes to my food and there is just something wrong to me about the texture of this stuff but you can put me down as not a fan of it! I even waited the full 20 minutes for it to absorb the water, then 5 minutes to sit, then fluffed....but nope I took two bites and couldn't do it! For those of you who do like Quinoa make sure to hit up your local TJ Maxx to see what they have to offer in flavors!

Onto the skillet sauce....DELISH! I was pleasantly surprised how good this sauce was! Whenever I see Fire Roasted on anything I usually find it to not be quite as "firey" as I like but this one was right on the money! And so easy...brown up your meat, toss in your sauce, and let simmer til your meat is cooked! If you can find this one make sure to try it...I know I'll be on the look out for different flavors!

Onto the books...I recently put out a post on Facebook requesting suggestions for a book I could devour! I was looking for something that would suck me in and make it hard for me to accomplish anything over the weekend! One of my super sweet coworkers left two books sitting on my desk waiting for me the next morning! One of those was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

A good friend of mine Laura had recommended this one to me  awhile back but I completely forgot about it, especially since I watched the movie (very sweet movie for all you cinema lovers). I was lucky enough to sit down Sunday and read this entire book! It was a 4 star story and such an easy read! It's written in letter format which I love! I definitely recommend this book!

And one more book that I recently purchased is a 5 Year Q&A Book!!

I heard about this book recently from a vlogger on YouTube and it sounded right up my alley. I really like to keep a journal but some nights I just want to read or I am so tired that the minute my head hits the pillow I am out...this books allows me to still record a thought each day! Basically for 5 years you record your answer to each question and every day has a different question! I really love this and think it will be so fun to see what changes and what doesn't change in my answers! Another "book" I would recommend to everyone!

Well folks I should probably wrap this post up as my lunch break is nearing its end! I will leave you with a few fun upcoming things I've got going on though...

I am currently rereading all the Harry Potter books! I have not read these since the first time I read them and think it's so fun going back through book 1 now! I just love everything about Harry Potter!! I am also reading a few other books on the side but the next one I am starting is called The Fault in Our Stars...the second book my coworker lent me!

This week, aside from the work party tomorrow, I've got happy hour with my best friend Alycia, Coffee and a walk with a friend on Saturday, Decorating for Halloween!! and Sunday morning Chuckles and I have a date to watch the first episode of the new season of Once Upon a Time! He is working nights now so we will be DVRing it and watching it together a WEEK LATE!! It's killing us both to have it sitting on the DVR but it's our show so no sneak watching it!!

I hope everyone has a great rest of your week and I'll be back on Friday with my Weekly Favorites!!

Blog Hiatus is Over!

Hello Readers!!

I hope you are all still out there and interested in what I have to share! After a few months of contemplation I have realized how much I've been missing this little ol' blog of mine and I have decided to bring it back to life!! I have spent the last 3 months (approx) thinking about how much I have wanted to get back into blogging but then remembering how time consuming and stressful it started to be. But in these 3 months I also have determined a way to blog and keep my sanity which will be to limit myself to only 3 posts a week. I have already set aside time on my calendar and I am so extremely excited to be coming back to the wonderful blogging community.

This time around I will still be focusing on book reviews, new recipes, crafts, etc but I will also be tossing in some randomized posts...such as Friday Favorites, new product finds, weekend recaps, holiday festivities and more! I actually love that a lot of bloggers do a Friday Favorites post and I think it's a fun way to focus on the positive stuff that has gone on throughout your week.

I can't express how excited I am to be diving back into blogging. And I hope I didn't lose my fabulous readers during this hiatus!!

So without further ado lets kick this off with a new recipe! :)

This past weekend I was lucky enough to spend my entire weekend at HOME!! It was lovely!! I was able to relax, bake, read, and do some things around the house!

I ended up trying a new recipe that I've held onto since last Fall.....Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies...

These were super easy to make and included two fun ingredients:

 

 

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

 

Ingredients

 

• 3 cups uncooked oats
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
3. Combine butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add in eggs.
5. Add in vanilla and pumpkin puree.
6. Add in the flour mixture.
7. Stir in cranberries.
8. Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheets
9. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.
10. Let cool.
11. Enjoy!

I ended up doing a split on these cookies. I divided the batter in half and only put cranberries in one half.

 

I got this recipe from the blog Mother Thyme.

 

This past week was quite the week of baking and I ended up sending these to Chuckles work today! I just couldn't have any more baked goods in the house! This week alone I made chocolate chip cookies and muffins for Chuckles and Monday night I will be baking cookies for work because....Tuesday is National Homemade Cookie Day!!

 

Alright my lovely readers I am off to finish up Laundry and enjoy what is left of my wonderful weekend at home!! I hope everyone has had an enjoyable weekend!!



Pumpkin French Toast

Despite the temperatures still being in the high 70s, low 80s outside we have been acting like it's fall inside!! I just cannot seem to get enough Pumpkin flavored food!!

I absolutely love getting into the kitchen on weekend mornings and cooking up a flavorful breakfast! All week long it's overnight oats or Cheerios so when I have the time to whip up something else I am excited!! Most recently I whipped up some Pumpkin French Toast!

This recipe is super easy and you probably will have everything you need on hand!

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 10 slices light wheat bread

For obvious reasons I cut the recipe down. I knew I'd be the only one eating as Chuck's not a huge breakfast person. 

Combine your egg(s), pumpkin, milk, and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl (or whatever you normally use when making french toast.)

After mixing up your "batter" get to dipping those bread slices...

Toss onto a warmed up pan. I sprayed it with a little olive oil spray before putting the slice of french toast on there.

Cook thoroughly!

And devour!

I really enjoyed this recipe. I sprinkled mine with pumpkin pie spice and dipped into syrup! It is another perfect fall breakfast...especially paired with a hot cup of coffee!! Make sure to check out the Pumpkin Pancakes if you are a fan of these!!

Of course the recipe was found on Pinterest! You may view the original recipe here!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Croissants!

I think it's safe to say now that unless I tell you otherwise all new recipes come from the magical Pinterest! I am thoroughly hooked, which is why I held out so long before joining. I'm not even joking, both my Mom and Sister were on it long before me and I just fought it and fought it...for this reason exactly...I have become consumed with the recipes and craft projects! But...it's amazing and I love it!

My colleague and I at work are in charge of a wonderful Halloween Dessert Potluck and we thought a great way to get people to sign up was to lure them in with baked goods! Of course I volunteered, in fact remember I made Cinnamon Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting...well this time I made Pumpkin Pie Croissants!

Ingredients:

• 2 tubes of crescent rolls
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice +1 tbsp separate
• 3 tbsp sugar + 4 tbsp separate

 

And believe it or not but I actually did not cut this recipe in half so if you think you'll need more than go ahead and double up. I found that I had a lot of leftover filling so you might just want to grab an extra can of crescent rolls.

The first thing you want to do is combine the cream cheese (softened), pumpkin, 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and 3 tbsp sugar.

Mix it all together really well. Make sure your cream cheese is softened, mine didn't get as smooth as I would like, but I'm also super impatient and didn't want to wait any longer!

In a small bowl combine the remaining sugar and pumpkin spice. You will use this to "roll" the crescent rolls in. I was a little skeptical about this step but trust me if you have the same concerns I did, being that the filling would come plopping out when I rolled it, it won't happen!!

 Next up lay out your crescent rolls. Cut each roll into two rolls. Plop some of your filling on there and then roll up just like you would normally.

Next up, roll that in your above mixture. I just did two quick rolls, enough to thoroughly cover the roll....seriously what other word could I use beside roll!!!

Then get to placing those little rolls onto a baking sheet. I always put down aluminum foil and lightly spray with an olive oil baking spray.

Already looking delish and they aren't even baked yet!!

Once you have made and rolled all your crescent rolls pop those babies in the oven at 375 for 15 - 18 minutes. These actually don't have as strong of baking scent that I thought they would, but they will make your home smell slightly like pumpkin pie! I was definitely hovering around the oven dying to try one!

Baked to perfection!!

I'd recommend letting them cool down before popping one in your mouth because the filling gets hot hot hot!! These are delish! They literally taste like a bite sized pumpkin pie!! I was in love!! It took everything I had to not eat all of them...but I knew they needed to go to work the next day!!

I quickly transferred them to two little bowls we had and covered with wrap! They survived the day and were enjoyed by everyone at work! When I went into a meeting at 10 there were at least 6 in the bowl, at 11:30 all but one was gone!! 

If you'd like to check out the original recipe for these delish Pumpkin Pie Croissants you may do so here.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Waffles

Run to your local grocery store!! Run as fast as you can, get yourself a can of refrigerated Cinnamon Rolls and get your butt back home to your waffle maker!!

I present you with the best, fastest, and easiest way to make those cinnamon rolls!!

Ingredients:

• 1 can refrigerated cinnamon rolls (or 2 depending on how many you are feeding)
• Baking Spray
• Waffle Maker

Open the waffle maker, spray with baking spray, and place four cinnamon rolls inside.

Shut your waffle maker, set a time for 2 1/2 minutes. 

Remove cinnamon rolls from waffle maker, drizzle with frosting and prepare to stuff your face!!

We will never got back to the traditional way of making these!! Not only were these perfect because they don't fall apart at all! They cook up like a waffle but taste exactly like a cinnamon roll!! But they also only took 2 1/2 minutes to make four of them!! 

Our life has been changed for the good by this amazing trick!! Thank you to the blogger over at Hen's Nest for sharing this amazing secret!!

Seriously try this....it will make you want these every weekend!!

Enjoy!

Avocado Chicken Salad

I have been doing a lot of baking and dinner entrees but I have not come up with something new for lunch in a long time!! While browsing Pinterest (of course) I came across a recipe for an Avocado Chicken Salad!! I am always on board with Chicken Salad and adding avocado = Sign me up!

This is a very simple twist on chicken salad but it is so tasty!! It will definitely be a regular in my lunch routine.

Ingredients:

• Shredded chicken, cooked
• 1 avocado
• Tiny bit of light mayo
• Cilantro
• Green Onions
• Lime Juice
• Salt & Pepper

Combine all your ingredients in a bowl! I ended up using 2 cans of chicken.

I added a little more lime juice after the initial mix. And then added in the salt and pepper because I didn't want to lose the taste of the cilantro and green onions! Amazing combo I must say!

I am so excited that I tried this recipe. It is so flavorful and extremely filling! While I had it on a sandwich roll today I will definitely put this on a salad next time because that would be a pretty healthy lunch option!! This whole mix together is 4 servings and it's only 5 points!! That's pretty darn good for how great this is!!

A definite keeper for lunches!! I plan on having the rest of it this week!!

The original recipe came from Becoming Betty! Thanks for sharing such an awesome new chicken salad recipe!! I love it!

Enjoy!