Jessica

32 Things That Make Me Happy

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I’m doing this link up because a) its fun b) its got a great sentiment. It is pretty hard to come up with 32 things that make you happy off the top of your head compared to how easy it is to come up with 32 things we hate. One of the things I am working on this year is my bad attitude (and my big mouth, they kind of go hand in hand), so this link up seems to be a good exercise in that. So without further a due let’s get this happy party started.

1) My engagement ring. (insert gagging) It’s small and simple and I love that it reminds me that there will always be someone to listen to my list of things I hate.

2) Hot tea. Seriously BEST. THING. EVER.

3) Wine. Second BEST. THING. EVER.

4) A good cozy sweater.

5) A roaring fire. Inside in the winter, outside in the summer.

6) People who except my big mouth, and forgive my misgivings, and my antics.

7) Wild flowers, especially daisies.

8) Rainy days. Because sitting by the fire with tea, or out on the porch watching it, and doing exactly nothing is perfectly acceptable.

9) Normalized excel spreadsheets. Yes I am serious. It makes me giddy when things are appropriately organized.

10) When Brody pushes whatever I’m working on out of his way so he can sit on my lap/chest. It seems annoying but it so damn cute and I love that he loves me that much that he likes to be close to me all the time. Yes you should fear for my children.

11) Chick Dates. There is nothing more therapeutic than an actual plan to hang out with someone you can talk to for a couple hours.

12) A really good metal concert. The head banging, heart pounding, body crunching, sweaty mass of pure adrenaline is downright euphoric. Letting go of absolutely everything, including social convention is the most unbelievably freeing thing ever.

13) Clean and soft sheets on the bed. I cannot say this enough.

14) That Chuck read a blog post where I stated the above and has made the bed every single day since. That my friends is true love.

15) Three cheese macaroni and cheese with shells.

16) Throwing Dinner Parties. I have no idea why, I know it tends to stress most people out, but I absolutely love it. I love the cooking, the prep, decorating (if necessary), and of course the people, and conversation.

17) When Chuck picks up his guitar.

18) Garlic & Basil. I should have been born Italian.

19) Sitting in a boat, fishing off the dock, swimming or anything else that involves water adventures. I am a Pisces after all.

20) Motorcycle rides.

21) Thinking about the possibilities of the future.

22) Getting out of work early.

23) Getting good mail. Beads I ordered, clothes, pen pal packages, magazines, you know, the good stuff.

24) Pasta. Especially this, this, this, or this. Ok maybe all of it. made any way.

25) Friends who don’t get mad when they don’t hear from me in 3 months.

26) Bath time.

27) Remembering my college days.

28) Singing and swaying to soulful sultry music while I cook dinner. I love Micheal Buble, Joss Stone, Lana Del Ray, and I’m just going to stop now.

29) The first hot shower at home after a weekend in the woods.

30) Game nights with friends!

31) Being creative, whether it be beading, drawing, painting, sewing, or weaving, I love taking some time out to focus on nothing but the craft. It’s very relaxing.

32) McHoney Buns.

Chicken and Broccoli Risotto

By Jessica

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Sometime you just have to make things work.

Sometimes you are up to your eyeballs in leftover chicken,
and broccoli that was on sale at the grocery store. Even more often the sink is
already piled high with dishes, and the idea of making more of a mess is in
fact terrifying.

Enter the one pan meal.

This kind of recipe is a life saver, since it’s a basic
risotto that you can toss basically anything that you have on hand in. It
tastes like it’s crazy complicated and heavenly, but in reality it only
required a cutting board, some warm broth, a big pot and a warm spoon, other ingredients
aside. An extra bonus is that is ready in just over 30 minutes. So basically it’s
perfect!

It is especially perfect when you have had a hard week at
work and your creative juices are flowing for a kind of awesome idea that you
had, which you have a very short timeline to slap together and get up on the
blog (Hint maybe?)

Let’s get back on track here and lets talk about this little trick I have. To keep your broth
warm just pop it in the microwave instead of have to pans on the stove at once.
It’s a little cheat that helps to keep the dishes down to a minimum. I have
also been known to just use room temperature broth, but that’s typically a
culinary no-no with risotto. Hey I’m human.

Leftover Chicken & Broccoli Risotto

1 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

½ a small onion, chopped

¾ cup Arborio rice

1 tsp fresh cracked pepper

2/3 cup dry white wine or chicken broth

2 cups chicken broth (warmed)

2 cups broccoli florets

1 cup shredded chicken

3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

In a large thick bottomed sauce pan heat oil over medium
high heat, and sauté onion, until it begins to turn translucent (about 3
minutes). Add rice, and pepper and stir until well blended. Add wine and stir constantly
until reduced by more than half. Stir in about half a cup of warm broth and
cook, stirring regularly until the broth has absorbed. Continue to add broth
and cook, while stirring until the rice has just become tender (about 20 minutes).
Stir in the broccoli, and chicken before adding the last of the broth. Once the
last of the broth has been absorbed stir in the parmesan cheese, and adjust
seasonings. (serves 4-6)

Spring Reflection

By Jessica

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Spring is here, at least is supposed to be. We will just ignore the single digit temperatures of the last few days.

It is the season of rebirth and rejuvenation. Maybe that’s why
I am feeling the need to check back in with myself since the turn of the New
Year. A lot of things have been swirling around in this little head of mine, as
I’m sure they have for you too. Spring does that.

I think it is important to take the time to look around at
where we stand both backward and forward and make conscience efforts to better
our selves. New Years is not the only time that we can do this, it just seems
to be the only time that most of us do.

Sitting down and looking at the past couple months I have made
some huge strides toward some of my goals and been left stagnate on others. If I
were going to rate myself I would probably give myself a C-.

I’m not going to be hard on myself or make excuses, because that’s
all a waste of time. Instead I’m going to take that evaluation and move forward
with it. I’m going to re-establish my goals. Some may alter slightly, my plan
of attack for some might change (since clearly the past one wasn’t working),
and some I may simply drop, or trade for new goals.

5x7 or 8x10 Hand Drawn Print "Oscar Wilde Quote - To Live is the Rarest Thing" - Calligraphy and Watercolour Flowers

Print from Daughter Zion Designs on Etsy

I am on a journey to becoming a better person, the person that I
want to be. It’s going to take a lot of hard work. I know. I also know
that I’m not going to be successful in everything I set out to do. The thing is
that if I don’t try, if I don’t strive for something then what exactly am I doing
here? I don’t want to simply exist. I don’t care if I am remembered or even if I
touch another person’s life. I simply want to live fully and completely love
who I am and what I stand for.

This doesn’t seem like it’s a lot, or that it’s impossible,
it just takes a little effort. Right?

Have you checked in with yourself lately? How would you rate yourself? What are you going to do to better that rating?

Chipotle BLT, with Avocado & a Fried Egg

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Chipotle BLT, with Avocado & a Fried Egg

I am putting eggs & Chipotle on everything lately. Although
fabulous on their own they seem to be even better together. This amazing
sandwich is the brain child of this whole phase I’m going through. Like any
good food blogger I came up with this idea all on my own and then googled it so
make sure I didn’t see it subconsciously somewhere else first. It happens a
lot.

This guy; he made it first, I have to give him credit because his
food is amazing, and I’m kind of in love with his blog.

My recipe is a little different, because I was too lazy to go to
the store and buy chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and why when I have the
powder at home?

Chipotle Mayo BLT, with Avocado & a Fried Egg

1/3 cup plain mayo

2-3 tsp chipotle powder

2 slices of bread, toasted

1 egg, fried

3-4 strips of bacon, cooked

1-2 slices of tomato

A few lettuce leaves

½ an avocado, sliced

In a small bowl whisk together the mayo and chipotle powder.
Spread about a tablespoon on one slice of bread. On the other, layer all other ingredients
and top with the other slice, mayo side down. Serve immediately.

This little baby was served with a side of Baked Garlic & Salt
Fries. Super easy, delicious and sure to please ANYONE, even picky little kids. My suggestion is to gobble them up with a bit of the chipotle mayo, or even mix it with some ketchup before dipping. It’s pretty outstanding.

Baked Garlic & Salt Fries

2-3 large potatoes, sliced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a baking sheet toss the potatoes with all other ingredients until well combined. Spread across the sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and crisp. serve immediately.

Chocolate Doughnuts with Earl Grey Glaze

By Jessica

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I got a doughnut pan for my birthday. Clearly I had to use it as soon as humanly possible.

I had this idea in my head about chocolate doughnuts with earl grey glaze for weeks.Way back when Eric and ol’ Shecky took me on a sweet Dunkin date before ice fishing on Valentine’s weekend I had one of those brownie batter doughnuts, and earl grey tea (home brewed in a travel mug) and an epiphany all at the same time. Chocolate and Earl grey is one of my favorite combinations in the whole wide world. Earl Gray tea brewed strong, with a splash of milk and some sugar to make it so nice a smooth is pretty amazing on its own, but the addition of chocolate sends me over the moon. So I had to combine these two things, I was obsessed it had to happen, and soon!

It happened last weekend. Thank god for family get-togethers since Chuck and I did not need to eat the entire dozen on our own.

For the chocolate doughnuts I used Joy the Bakers recipe. I actually did something pretty impressive and set everything up, you know that whole Mise en Place thing, yeah I did that. I even mixed the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately like the recipe suggests. Honestly I really think it made the whole process easier and cleaner. Maybe I can get behind this whole baking thing after all. For once I actually enjoyed the baking part of it all. To top is off doughnuts themselves were wonderfully light, fluffy and chocolaty. Basically they were perfect!

The glaze was more of an experiment. I started out with the basic glaze liquid to powdered sugar ration and kept adding more sugar until I reached the texture I was going for. The earl grey flavor didn’t come through as much as I would have liked, but it was still nice and mellow. I added a light sprinkle of some of the ground tea leaves for some fun, and a hint more flavor, but that’s totally not necessaryEarl Grey Glaze
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup strongly brewed earl grey tea (plus extra if necessary)

In a small bowl whisk together confectioners’ sugar and tea, a few table spoons at a time, until the desired thickness is achieved.

To coat simply dip the doughnuts into the bowl and give them a good swirl. Carefully pull them out watching for drips and set them frosting side up on plate or rack to set.

Jessica

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