thrown together taco soup.

Okay whoa. This soup is so good. And so unexpected because I really just threw it together with things I had because my other plan for dinner wasn't really working out. It was Colorado's first COLD day and it was rainy so...soup!

1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 tomatoes, diced (can sub can of diced tomatoes)
1 can black beans, with juice
1 can corn, with juice
2 tblspoons tomato paste
1 cup veg or chicken broth or stock
1 stalk green onion, finely sliced
cilantro
1/2 tblspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoon ground red pepper or chili powder
1/2 tablspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
(all spices are to taste)

shredded chicken (optional)
rice (optional)
sour cream (optional)
shredded cheese (optional)

In saucepan, saute onion, pepper, and tomatoes together for 2-3 minutes with a little olive oil. Add tomato paste, stir together. Add black beans and corn INCLUDING juice. Mix it all together and simmer for 2 minutes. Add green onion and broth/stock. Add spices and bring to a boil before lowering to low and letting simmer.

If you want to keep this vegetarian--serve! If you want to add a little meat, cook chicken breast by baking or boiling and then shred and add while it is simmering. I served my soup over a small scoop of rice.

Serve with a pinch of shredded cheese and dollop of sour cream. You can also sprinkle broken tortilla chips on top, too!

Guys, this is so good. And great as leftovers.

quick enchiladas (and a little healthier, too!)

I love "mexican" food. I eat something Mexican inspired at least once a week and I will hardly ever pass up on an opportunity to go to a Mexican restaurant. Favorite snack? Chips and salsa. 

These are super easy enchiladas that take hardly any time to whip up! And since I'm a single gal, I put half of the batch in the freezer for a later date, but this would no doubt be enough for a family of 4. 

[recipe title="Quick & Easy Enchiladas" servings="6-8" time="30-35 mins" difficulty="easy"]

Ingredients:

your favorite enchilada sauce (Trader Joe's is good!)

1 tomato, diced

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb ground beef or turkey

corn or flour tortillas

2 jalapenos, finely chopped or finely sliced 

2 cups shredded cheese

2 tablespoons cream cheese

[/recipe]

Start by sautéing onion and garlic together. 

Add meat and brown; add jalepenos before meat is done cooking.

Add tomatoes to meat mixture and stir. Mix 1/4 of your enchilada sauce with meat. Assemble by sprinkling cheese in each tortilla, then a layer of meat mix, rolling tightly. Smear cream cheese on top of each tortilla. 

Cover with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese. I sliced jalapeños to put on top for garnish.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until cheese in brown and bubbly. (I made two of these size: one to eat/have leftovers, one for the freezer. If not freezing, use a 9x13).

Serve with a dollop of sour cream! I also love black beans...so I eat them at every opportunity.

easy EASY muffin tops.

I think everyone knows the top of the muffin is the best part. It's soft but a little chewy and crunchy, full of the best flavor, and it's almost like eating a cupcake. I always save the top for last.

In an attempt to use up things in my pantry, I threw together some things I thought might taste good. What I actually did was create a muffin top-like treat that is so easy and so delicious. The other awesome thing is that they are completely customizable to what flavors you like. Also, nothing has to be exact, which is also great. And since there's no raw ingredients, you can swipe a finger and do a little taste test before you pop them in the oven. 

need: baking mix (bisquik or off-brand is fine), sugar, butter, milk (you can use water but hey, milk is always better), mix-ins of your choosing. 

2 cups of baking mix + roughly 1/3 cup sugar and combine. 

 2 tablespoons butter or margarine softened and mix!  

1/4-1/3 cup milk. it shouldn't appear dry or clumpy but should not be so liquid that you can pour. if you are using a very juicy fruit, reduce liquid only slightly. 

mix in your toppings of choice! 

drop by spoonfuls on baking sheet. bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes. they look like cookies at this point but trust me, they are not. 

the ones above, i found out, are way too close together. please use a bigger baking sheet if you want pretty tops. 

strawberry and white chocolate and oh so heavenly. sprinkle a little sugar on them right when they come out of the oven and MMMM. 

chocolate chip. not as pretty but just as tasty. 

great for a snack, dessert, or breakfast. 

everyone loves free food!

Okay. So. Food is my love language. Yeah, I know there's five *actual* love languages that you can take a test and discover what you are and that's all cool and stuff but...food is my real love language. Take me to my favorite restaurant, eat my home cooked meal, try a new food with me, buy me food, whatever you do, if it's food related, I'm yours.

So naturally, upon finding a website that lists all of the places that gives you discounts or free food on your birthday, I was very, very happy. Especially because my birthday is in 2 weeks and I'm about to move to a big city with a very tight grocery budget.

I introduce to you:

FavoriteCandle.com
Click for free food!

Most, if not all, require you to sign up for their mailer club or rewards or whatever catchy name they choose to list, but you can control the amount of emails and you can always unsubscribe once you use your freebie. Some places also give you free stuff for signing up. Double wow.

So. This is my recommendation for the day, get to it!

sweet and spicy salsa

I'm in the habit of making up recipes. This is one I made up with produce that needed to be used and what I had and turned out delicious.

What I used: corn, tomato, avocado, fresh jalapeño, pineapple, green onion, salt, pepper

Toss corn and jalapeño with olive oil, salt, pepper. I also add paprika to the corn but I like things HOT. Roast the corn, jalapeno, and pineapple for 5-7 minutes. 

Dice the tomato, green onion, and avocado. Let the corn cool for a few minutes for before mixing everything but the avocado together. Sprinkle salt on avocado and toss into mixture. 

Remember to keep the pit of the avocado if you do not intend to finish this! 

Serve with tortilla chips! 

my best friend is married.

I feel like I was 10 years old yesterday, so it doesn't seem at all possible that I can have friends old enough to be getting married. Not to mention, my best friend. But alas, I do. This was the kickoff to six weddings I will attend this summer. This was the busiest and best (I'm biased), too, so I'm glad it happened first. 

I'm so happy for my dear sweet best friend. She deserved the most perfect day, which I think she got, and deserves the best God could plan for her and her new husband. 

We are living together for a month. More on that later, perhaps. 

As many couples do nowadays, the couple did away with the traditional cake and did a dessert bar. They cut a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Guests brought desserts, some family recipes, others just what they felt like making. We were worried there wouldn't be enough dessert...HA! There was so much we had to get another table, plus there were even backups and leftovers. There were about 4 different types of brownies, a few cheesecakes, cupcakes, carrot cake, lemon bars, chocolate covered pretzels, 4 different kinds of pies, baklava, truffles, and more that I can't even remember! Luckily I was too busy to keep visiting the dessert table or my zipper probably would have popped by the end of the night. 

A simple cake topper made with my cricut! 

Bridesmaids outtakes. Sitting on the porch of the bridal house while we waited for the couple to finish taking pictures.

Bouquets and makeup bags with handmade earrings for the bridal party! 

She's so freckly! 

These hangers go for double digits on etsy and we SCORED ours for very very cheap and they matched the feel of the wedding.

We transported flowers the morning of. These were between my legs for an hour. 

"Where is he? How is he? How does he look?" is all she was saying or about 20 minutes while she peeked out the window. 

Leftover flowers make for a happy apartment the next week! 

Profile picture worthy. First picture together since becoming a Mrs. Taken at the head table while waiting for prayer and dinner. 

coffee themed bridal shower.

I have the honor of being a maid of honor to my best friend! I've never been a maid of honor before. I didn't/don't really know what I'm doing. But I knew I was in charge of throwing a bridal shower and bachelorette party and wrangling the other maids. 

I knew my best friend was going to be getting married within the year last summer and started thinking about a bridal shower around then. Then she got engaged in November, asked me to be MoH in December and now, in April, I think I have successfully thrown my first bridal shower. 

There are two reasons why I chose a coffee theme. And when I say coffee theme, I use this loosely. It started as a heavy coffee theme and ended as a light coffee theme. Coffee influence, you could say. Anyway. There were many coffee shop date's in the history of their relationship and the hubby-to-be used to be a barista.

The invitation: 

I designed and made them myself because let's face it: invitations are outrageously expensive and I'm on a tight budget. I couldn't find 5x7 white cardstock with envelopes that wasn't an open-close card. So for $10 (using a coupon, making it $6) at Michaels, I bought a package of 40 cards and envelopes and cut each card in half then printed the invitations from home. I designed the invitation on picmonkey. for free! I love picmonkey. I then used the "I love you a latte" cartridge on my Cricut mini and cut out the coffee cup graphic and glued them to all of the invites for a little extra dimension. 

bad picture quality, I took this on my phone while it was hanging on the fridge. The button is not part of the invitation, but the magnet holding it to the fridge. 

food:

My love language is food and the most important part of ANY event to me is food. Sticking with the coffee theme and since it was at 10:30, we had breakfast/brunch type finger foods. 

Carrot & zucchini bars with cream cheese frosting, pesto and parmesan twists, cheddar biscuits, muffins, donut holes, nutella bites, magic bars (totally a straight up dessert), gluten free apple scones, and of course a fruit tray. 

And coffee. Coffee, pre-made iced coffee, hot tea, and raspberry lemonade for those non-caffeine folk. It also happened to be the warmest day of the year so far, which led people to drink a lot more cold beverage than I was expecting.

I will post recipes for a few things soon! 

Decor: 

Let me just say that I love my Cricut and it made my life SO much easier. I bought the "I love you a latte" cartridge specifically because of this shower but will definitely continue to use it. 

I used my cricut to cut out some of the words and images on the food table (sweet, aroma!, have a cup, coffee break) and taped them to skewers. bam! easy! 

I got brown butcher looking paper with a floral design at dollar tree to use under the main food table. so cheap and so cute! A lot of decorations were ones I had around my apartment. The faux milk jugs with the food labels in them are from ikea. the chalkboard signs came in 4 packs from Michaels and were used to label food. I picked up a few crepe paper type things from a party store. Oriental Trading Co. was a lifesaver! I got the crocheted table runner, suitcase, and two banners for very cheap! 

With my Cricut, I cut out different types of mugs and cups and made a banner that said "the perfect blend" with letters also cut out with the Cricut. 

I also had photos of the couple all over, on the activity table, gift table, and around the food and drink (where people tend to linger.) 

I also framed pictures of the bridesmaids for "meet the maids."

favors: 

I bought a pound or two of chocolate covered espresso beans and put a few in a coffee filter and tied it up with ribbon. I attached a label that said "thanks a latte for coming." I found a wooden coffee cup cut out and chalkboard painted it and wrote the same thing. They were all placed in a suitcase and put by the door! 

activity:

Besides opening presents, we played a game and had 2 activities offered. The game was "who said it?" with different tweets from each of them. There was "date night jenga" where guests were encouraged to write a date idea on a jenga piece. There were also notecards and envelopes for guests to write encouraging notes to the couple that would be sent randomly during the first year of marriage. 

the joy of the kitchen.

If there's one thing I love doing no matter what mood I'm in or have been in, it's cooking! The repetitive chopping motion, the patient wait for the water to boil, the smells and sights, the crackles and sizzles. They relax me, calm me, and I find such joy in them.

I love trying new recipes. I will be the first to say I'm a fan of pinterest, but I rarely find a recipe I follow to a T. I'm rather meticulous about my boards and have probably 8 or more food boards. Yet they're filled with recipes that serve more as inspiration than anything. Since I'm just coming out of college, I'm still working hard to build my pantry of spices and other staples that I can actually afford to replenish regularly and therefore, I feel like I'm getting more and more adventurous with cooking, as well as perfecting my tastebuds and my own pallet. I feel more confident and better equipped to handle a kitchen and being able to cook a meal for not just myself, but others.

Cooking for others is part of the joy of cooking. I'm lucky to have a roommate and her fiance that always are available to try my recipes. Meal sharing is such an important fellowship tool for me. It's something I put so much value in. I love cooking for people and baking for people. I'm all over potlucks! I love the joy my cooking brings to others and the joy that happens over a meal shared with friends and family. It may be selfish of my to enjoy it so much but if my joy brings joy to others, who's to say it's so selfish?

Studies have said that sharing a meal with others, rather than alone, actually leads to being healthier and happier! Family's rarely share meals together anymore and "dinner time" is almost a lost concept. The family's that do, however, are better connected, better with communication, and overall happier as a family unit.

Look at the intimacy Jesus and his disciples shared over the last supper. It wasn't just a final time to share a meal together, it was a time for fellowship, connection, and shared wisdom. It was at this table Jesus first said he would be betrayed and denied. It was the last time Jesus was able to truly connect and share with his disciples. Jesus found great joy and art in meal sharing, so I think it's a pretty good path to follow.