One Healthy CHICK

As you can tell by all but one (the tacos) of my food posts, I LOVE SWEETS. Well, for the next ten days, I will not be eating any. For my Leadership class, we're going on this detox diet thing created by Dr. Mark Hyman to promote healthy eating amongst teens. Apparently, we're the first class to do it in the whole country, so I guess that's pretty cool. What's not cool is that I'm not supposed to eat any dairy, gluten, or sugar for ten days. Technically, we aren't required to participate, but I need to start eating healthier anyway, so I thought this would be a great start!

While shopping at Whole Foods for an after-school snack a few weeks ago, my mom and I discovered some pretty yummy food there. The best part was, it was already prepared for us. We literally took out our forks and started eating as soon as we got in the car. We tried one of their pasta salads and chicken salad and they were delicious! Since then, we have been shopping there even more and found other things to try as well, like quinoa salads. I could probably eat this food for the rest of my life. I love it!

My school lunches are usually a sandwich with a bunch of little sides things like chips, fruit, and a cookie. For the detox, I had to come up with new ideas for lunches. I really wanted the chicken salad, but it's a little expensive and goes by so fast, so my mom and I decided to find the recipe and make our own!

Here is how we did it.

Sonoma Chicken Salad

Photo and Recipe via Whole Foods

For the DRESSING, you will need: 
1 cup mayonaise
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
5 tsp honey
2 tsp poppy seeds
salt & pepper to taste

For the SALAD, you will need:
2 lbs boneless chicken breast
3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
2 cups red seedless grapes, halved
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced


* We had to half the recipe because we didn't have enough chicken. There will usually be more. *

Start by preheating your oven to 375ºF. Place the chicken breasts in one layer in a baking dish filled with 1/2 cup of water. Cover the dish with foil and bake for twenty-five minutes or once the chicken is completely cooked through. Remove the chicken breasts from the dish and let them cool at room temperature. This should take around ten minutes. Cover the chicken again and refrigerate it to keep it cool. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of this step. I was at soccer while my parents made the chicken.

While that's cooling, you can make the dressing. Combine mayonaise, vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, salt and pepper. My mom was making this with me and forgot we were halving the recipe. We added double the poppy seeds that should have have been put in. Oops! It's a good thing poppy seeds don't really taste like anything.

Chop up the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Mix the chicken, nuts, grapes and celery in with the dressing. Keep mixing until the dressing completely coats everything. We chose to not add nuts because I tend to eat around them. :)

Make sure you keep it cool because it tastes better that way and enjoy!

"Watercolor"

Hey y'all! I am in such an great mood right now. This warm weather is amazing! Today is such a nice day. The sun is out, it's nice and warm and spring is in the air. Really, the best word to describe it is just "awwwwwwwww...."

However, one word to describe earlier today would be "STRESSFUL." Yes, in all caps. A Biology test and math test to start off the day wasn't the greatest, especially because they were harder than usual. I'm glad it's over with, though. Whew! I do have a Geography test tomorrow too, but that should be a piece of cake. Let's hope.

The good news about having tests is no homework! This means that I had time to do a fun craft for this blog! As soon as I got home, I went right out to my deck and just sat there. It felt SO good! That was when I decided to do this craft outside. It needs very little supplies and a flat workspace, so why not?

I found this craft on Brit+Co, just like everything these days, it seems like. This is because I found so many things when I was browsing the blog one day. While I was browsing, this project looked easy and very fun, so I thought I would try it! I decided to make a pillow case because it was similar to what they did, but I'm sure you could try whatever you want. It's supposed to look like you decorated with watercolors, but it's really just Sharpies and rubbing alcohol. Neat huh?


Here is how to make it:

"Watercolor" Pillow Case

You will need:

something to decorate (i.e. pillowcase, throw pillow, shirt, etc.)

Sharpies

rubbing alcohol

cotton swabs

The first step is to prewash your item of choice. My pillowcase was just an extra that we rarely use, so I didn't have to wash it because it already had been before. You probably don't need to wash a pillow if you are drawing directly on that, but if you are using something like a shirt or a NEW pillowcase, wash it so the dye will sink it better. 

Next, plan out your design and draw it on the pillowcase with the Sharpies in the color(s) of your choice. I went with rainbow dots on the edge of the pillowcase. I like to keep things simple because if I really want to, I can always go back and add more, but can't take anything away. 

Once you are completely done drawing, take a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol and dab, then rub, it on the Sharpie designs. This will blend the colors together and give it sort of a glow or aura. It doesn't completely blend everything, so keep that in mind when drawing. By the way, the bigger your design is, the more rubbing alcohol you will need to use and that will probably smell bad. Too much rubbing alcohol can make me feel sick. Bleh!

After you have blended everything, pop your creation in the dryer for a little while. This will let the dye sink in more, and of course, dry it! Mine took the awful smell out too, but that could have just been because I didn't use a lot of alcohol. 

And you're done! Easy right?

I really like how it turned out!

When I was looking at Brit+Co's tutorial, I clicked on the link to another blog, which showed how to make an ombre pillow using this technique. I really wanted to try this, until I read what happened. All she did was scribble a color in different intensities on a piece of fabric and put it in a bathtub with rubbing alcohol. First, that had to give her a headache. Second, she said it dyed her entire bathtub purple! I don't know why she needed to use a bathtub, though. I bet you could just dip it in a bucket and it would work. If you decide to try this, let me know how it goes!

Now go be creative!

Do You Know the Muffin Pan? - Cakes

I promised there would be a dessert muffin pan recipe, so here it is! This was on the same Brit+Co post as the tacos.

I think I was looking forward to making (and EATING) this more than the tacos. Don't get me wrong, they were both delicious, but let's get real, who doesn't love a warm, chocolate cake? This recipe pretty much had my name written all over it.

It's time to wash those jumbo muffin pans after making your tacos, because trust me, you'll want to use them again! Here is the recipe for the muffin pan molten chocolate cakes.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

(Muffin Pan Edition)

You will need:

1 cup chocolate chips (maybe a little bit more) ;)

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

4 eggs

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon paprika

We only had one stick of butter, so I had to cut the recipe in half. It still made four cakes, though, which was plenty.

First, melt the butter and chocolate chips together. I did this by using a homemade double broiler. I showed how to do this in one of my previous posts. However, the chocolate melted much faster than the butter. I ended up melting the butter in the microwave, then mixing it with the chocolate while it was still on the broiler. It was sort of lumpy at first, but after adding more chocolate and stirring, the mixture turned out smooth like it was supposed to. 

Add the vanilla, eggs and powdered sugar and stir until everything is combined. Don't let it sit for too long or it will get hard. Just a heads up! Mix in the flour and paprika and stir well again. 

Fill the muffin pan with the batter. Each cup should be about 3/4 full. The cakes will rise while they are in the oven.

Evelyn, Georgia, and I had some fun licking the extra batter from the bowl. 

Georgia

Evelyn

Georgia doing the "turkey" to Evelyn and I.
Sorry about my weird, mouse-looking face.
Pictures aren't really my thing unless I try to look weird.

Bake the cakes at 425ºF for ten to thirteen minutes. The sides will be firm, but the center will be all melty and "jiggly," according to Brit+Co. When I think of "jiggly," I think of Jell-O, not chocolate. But hey, whatever floats your boat. 

It's better if you serve these right out of the oven, but make sure you let the cakes sit for about two minutes before removing them from the pan. I skipped this step without realizing and got a melty, chocolatey mess. It still tasted AMAZING, but it wasn't very attractive. We let some of the other ones sit and they turned out better. I didn't get a picture of it, though, because we took it out, but decided we should wait for my sister to get home from soccer. Bad idea. It sort of collapsed. Oh well. It still tasted good and that's all that matters to me!

Enjoy your mini, Mexican-inspired, muffin pan, molten chocolate cakes! (What a mouthful!) I know I did!

Do You Know the Muffin Pan? - Tacos

In my last post I mentioned that I found some new recipes on Brit+Co. This was one of the recipes that I found interesting and definitely wanted to try! The post was on five new ways to use a muffin pan. Cool, huh? By the way, the title they had was too cute and I just had to steal it! Full credit goes to them for the title idea.

On another note, I got a concussion last Saturday in my soccer game. In case you were wondering (probably because you play soccer), it was in the last ten minutes and I was marking a girl from behind because that's just what defenders do. I'm not totally sure how it all went down, but other people said she hit me with her elbow. No matter what, it was a total foul and two of the three refs were within fifteen feet, meaning they should have called it, but they didn't. Even if they wouldn't call a foul, they should have at least stopped the play. After all, head injuries are not to mess with. The other team's coach helped me more than the refs. Not cool. I went to the doctor and sure enough, I had a concussion. I have only been able to go to school  for half of my classes each day.

Anyway, I told this story to get the point across that I have a lot of time on my hands. If I'm not sleeping or doing homework, I need things that don't involve screens to give my eyes and brain a break., so I thought I would make a recipe that took a little bit more time and effort to make. As it turns out, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be or take as much time. It was a win-win!

Because of my head 'issues', my mom decided that she would help me out. My sister even helped out a little bit, too. It was a nice mother-daughter bonding time that had an AWESOME reward.

Our friends from Oregon are in town, too. The adults went out to dinner with some friends, so we were watching seven-year-old Georgia and nine-year-old Evelyn for the night and we thought this would be the perfect dinner to make for them!

Here's how to make these out-of-the-ordinary, yet scrumptious, tacos!

Chipotle Chicken Tacos

(Muffin Pan Edition)

You will need:

a whole roasted chicken

corn tortillas

1-3 canned chipotle peppers in abodo sauce

1/4 cup tomatillo salsa
1/4 cup lime juice

avocado, sour cream, cilantro, tomato, etc. for garnish

jumbo muffin pan

The first step is super simple. Turn your muffin pan(s) upside-down. The original recipe said to do this with a regular-sized muffin pan, but I found that the jumbo ones worked better for this step, so ignore the regular-sized muffin pan in the picture. Brush olive oil on your tortillas and drape them over the cups of the muffin pan. Bake them in the oven at 400ºF for around five minutes. remove them from the oven and pinch them so they fit inside the jumbo muffin cups and set them all aside.

Separate your roasted chicken. My mom did this for me. She does it all the time and offered to do it, so I thought "why not?" I'm actually really glad she did. While she was working with the chicken, I got the other ingredients together. 

Chop up how ever many chipotle peppers you want to use. They are pretty spicy, so be cautious. We used one and a half so it wouldn't be too spicy for the little girls (and me!). It's kind of hard to even mix the peppers in, so some tacos ended up being spicier than the others. Keep this in mind when choosing how many to use. Mix the peppers, along with the tomatillo salsa and lime juice, into the chicken.

Once everything looks evenly spread throughout, take a large spoonful of chicken and put it in each taco cup. We had a little bit extra after filling twelve tacos. Put those back in the oven for two to three minutes to warm it up. 

As soon as you take the tacos out of the oven, if you want, sprinkle some cheese on each taco. The cheese will melt on top. Yum! I would recommend serving the tacos while they're hot. Warm tacos are yummier! Add anything else you want to add before eating your tacos. I added chopped lettuce, sour cream, avocado cubes, and mini tomatoes. 

There were a hit with my parents, my sister, and the girls! Oh, and I loved them too!

If you didn't already notice, this is the first non-dessert recipe I have posted on this blog. However, if you are feeling sweet deprived, stay tuned for another muffin pan recipe!

Winter Weather Calls for Warm Drinks!

Lately, in Park City, the weather has been super weird. Last weekend it was snowing. Then it started to warm up again, and now there is a thunderstorm happening right outside my window! What a weird winter...

When winter comes along, what is on everyone's mind? Of course, there's Christmas, snow, skiing, snowboarding, sledding, warm pajamas, fires in the fireplace, but most of all, warm mugs of hot cocoa and apple cider. I know I always look forward to them. However, I'm sure most people know how to make hot cocoa and apple cider, so I'm not going to be writing about how to make those. I WILL be writing about two new warm drinks that I just tried for myself and turned out super yummy!

Warm Vanilla Milk

I remember someone telling me that she LOVED to drink warm vanilla milk and would bring it to school in the morning a lot in the winter. It sounded pretty weird and kind of gross when she first told me what she was drinking, but after she explained how much she loved it, I have always wanted to give it a try. I ended up completely forgetting about it until researching warm drinks for this blog. Ever since, I have been craving it and it was SO easy and SO good!


You will need:

1 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp sugar
a mug

To start, warm up the milk either in a mug in the microwave or on the stovetop. Either way works, but I used the microwave because it's much faster and easier. It took about two and a half minutes, in case you were wondering.

After you have warmed up the milk to your desired temperature, stir in the vanilla and sugar with a spoon.

Top it off with a pinch of cinnamon and you're already done! Easy right?



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Spiced Hot Cocoa

This hot cocoa recipe that I found sounded really interesting and worth trying, so I did! It's just like normal hot cocoa with a little bit extra. This one was also easy and yummy!


You will need:

1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp hot water
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract

This recipe is kind of in two parts: the cocoa mixture and the actual drink part. Make your cocoa mixture by combining the cocoa powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Now, I didn't have a 1/8 teaspoon (who does?), so I had to guess by filling half of the 1/4 teaspoon and it turned out that I added a little bit too much for my liking. I would just add about a pinch of nutmeg instead. Anyways, mix the ingredients together after you have added them all.

The recipe also asks for a tablespoon of boiling water, but who wants to boil an entire pot of water for only one tablespoon? Not me, that's for sure. Instead, I used the hot water from the sink, which worked fine. I actually think cold water would have worked as well. Pour that water into the cocoa mixture and stir it until it is smooth.

Heat your milk up, again, either by microwave (but don't heat it in the same mug) or the stovetop.

Pour it in with your chocolate. Stir everything together well and top it off with some whipped cream and chocolate sauce and you're done! We didn't have chocolate sauce. Darn it! :(

I hope I inspired you to make a new drink on your next cold winter's day! Enjoy!

Inspire Me!

Handmade Charlotte is a great example of what I would love my blog to turn out like. The theme is very similar to mine as well. She includes a variety of do-it-yourself crafts, tasty recipes, and home decor ideas. Her blog includes fun things for kids as well some that are more sophisticated for adults, many of which I would try myself. The crafts and recipes have step-by-step instructions for the reader with visuals to provide extra demonstration. I hope I can incorporate the fun colors and simple layout of this blog, as well as some similar recipes and crafts that will be fun for many different ages.

Uncommon Designs is really similar to Handmade Charlotte, theme wise. They, too, blog a lot about treats and crafts. Their posts, though, relate to the season and the main holidays within those months. Therefore, for any last minute party planners who would like to get creative with their decorations have a place to look. This blog is more complicated than Homemade Charlotte, but includes a lot more variety. For example, their DIY projects are organized into subcategories like no-sew, mason jars, gifts, and so on. That way, you don't have to search through all of the crafts to find what you are looking for. I also like the fact that they have linked pictures at the top of the home page, making it easier to find posts that are for the specific season. I am going to relate my posts and ideas to the current season, as well, and if I get too many posts, I can organize them in a similar way.

Baking Bites is based entirely on cooking. However, the posts are not all recipes. This blog also includes helpful tips for bakers, new kitchen tools to make baking easier, interesting and uncommon ingredients that someone might use, cookbook recommendations, blog recommendations, and reviews on some of the things they have tried already. Baking Bites could be helpful to many people, from hardcore bakers who want to learn new skills or moms who are just looking for a new treat recipe. Again, the overall blog is simple, and fairly easy to navigate. I could use this blog to help improve my own baking skills and help me explain how to make different recipes.



I am very excited to work on this blog. Hopefully, it will end up turning out just as good as these three!