It's Just Lunch

So this week's "It's Just Lunch" was kind of thrown together at the last minute. We were leaving Friday afternoon for Michigan and I had been working all week so I couldn't make anything for lunch. Then, we were trying to eat up all our leftovers so we wouldn't have anything going bad in our fridge while we were gone. I ended up making pasta salad with a totally made up recipe and it turned out pretty delicious! I made it with 1 C pasta salad, 1 C total of corn, peas, and carrots, and about 1/4 C of dressing that I had made for salad. Another thing that would have made it really delicious would be feta cheese, but I didn't have any at the time. 

 The dressing is called honey lime dressing, found on Pinterest, of course! 

Honey Lime Dressing (recipe found here)

1/4 C Lime Juice

2 T Olive Oil

2 T Honey

2 T Chopped fresh cilantro (I didn't have any fresh, so I used about 1 t of dried cilantro)

1 Garlic Clove

1/8 t Paprika

Enjoy!

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

 Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day, and lemon poppyseed muffins are my favorite breakfast food. The best lemon poppy-seed muffin I've ever had was actually from Dunkin' Donuts. It tasted like sunshine. It was delicious. Ever since I had it I have been trying to find a recipe that imitates theirs, but I hadn't succeeded until I found this recipe. It was only slightly different, but I think with the addition of sugar crystals and icing on the top they would be the same. I will definitely be using this recipe again! Thank you, Pinterest!

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (recipe found here)

2 C Flour

2/3 C Sugar

1/4 t Salt

2 t Baking Powder

1/4 t Baking Soda

2 T Poppyseeds

2 Eggs

3/4 C Yogurt

Zest of 2 Lemons

1/4 C Lemon Juice (about 1 Lemon)

1 1/2 t Vanilla Extract

1/2 C Butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppyseeds. In another bowl mix together the eggs, yogurt, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and butter. (ok, so I usually don't follow the whole mix the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls directions because it really doesn't matter, but it's important in this recipe, so make sure your wet and dry ingredients are mixed separately!) Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just mixed. Fill your muffin cups about 2/3rds full of batter, sprinkle with crystallized sugar (if desired), and bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. They're SUPER delicious straight from the oven! Enjoy!

Fancy Shoes and Fancy Hair

First of all, sprained ankles are no fun at all. The only thing that can make it better is new shoes :)

 I got these shoes yesterday at Target yesterday on sale for only $10. I have actually pinned these shoes before. I was quite proud of myself for finding them for such an affordable price.

 I paired them with my brown polka dot J. Crew skirt, my pink peasant top, brown earrings from a friend, and a super cute brown necklace that I got for cat sitting.

I also found this hair style on Pinterest and decided to try it out. It wasn't that hard, but I don't think it looks quite the same as the picture. I still like it though, and it didn't take too long so I'll probably try it again soon. What do you think?

Pinterest Polka Dots

Is that not the coolest thing ever? I thought so too. So the other day my friend Gabby and I made it! We weren't really sure how it was going to work, because we only had a series of pictures to go off of, but it turned out great! It's super easy; you should make one!

First you need two white cake mixes. We used a whole cake mix for the dots, but we ended up with too many dots to fit in the pan and not enough white cake to cover them, so I would use about 2/3 of a cake mix for the dots. Separate your cake mix into bowls and color them. We used 5 colors: purple, green, blue, pink, and orange, but you can use however many you'd like. The pictures showed using a cake pop maker to make the dots, but I don't have one. We used a mini cupcake pan instead and it worked just fine! Bake your mini cupcakes (or cake pops) at 350 for 10 minutes. You want them to be firm enough to move, but not completely done otherwise they will be dry when you bake the whole cake. 

 You can freeze them after they come out, but it's not necessary. We didn't freeze ours and it was just fine.

After that you place them in the pan with the rest of the mix. Pour a small amount of cake mix in the bottom of two circle pans (mine are 9", but you can use whatever you have), just enough to cover the bottom. Place your dots on top and arrange them however your heart desires. Pour the rest of your cake mix on top. If you don't have enough it's not a big deal, the cake will rise. 

 Bake the cake at 350 for 15 minutes and check it. If it's not done bake 2-3 minutes at a time, checking it at each interval. When it's done it'll probably look like this.

Now you can decorate! Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes and then you can flip it out. I just made a basic white icing (one bag of powdered sugar, 2-4 T milk, 1/4 C crisco) and spread that on the sides and in between the layers. Then I used another Pinterest idea for the top. The idea was to use cookie cutters as stencils and put sprinkles inside the cookie cutters. It worked like a charm, with a little spillage. However, I wouldn't suggest trying to fix the spills by blowing the sprinkles off, because you'll end up blowing the other sprinkles all over the cake... 

Finished product!

Enjoy!

It's Just Lunch

 And now, the moment you've all be waiting for... (at least I hope someone besides me was looking forward to this!) Week One of "It's Just Lunch." The basic idea is that once a week I'll do something special for lunch. Something besides the normal PB&J or microwaved leftovers. The name comes from the idea that it's literally one lunch a week. If I mess it up or it doesn't taste good it doesn't really matter. It's just lunch!

So for week one I made microwave mac and cheese and "fried" pickles. Both recipes are from Pinterest and both were delicious! I'll give you the recipe for the mac and cheese first. 

I used this recipe. I had seen on Pinstrosity that several of the "mac and cheese in a mug" pins were duds, so I used the one they recommended. 

Microwave Mac & Cheese

1/3 C Whole Grain 

1/3 + 1/4 C Water

1/3 C Cheese

2 t Milk

The whole grain pasta will cook differently than if you use white pasta. If you use white pasta it will probably just take a little less time to cook. Microwave the pasta and water in a very large mug (I had to transfer mine to a bowl because it boiled over) for 6 minutes, stirring at 4, 2, and 1 minute. Depending on how powerful your microwave is it may need to cook for a little more or less. Just keep an eye on it and you'll be fine. Add a heaping 1/3 C of cheese to the cooked pasta (leaving the thick water in the cup) and microwave for another 45 seconds to melt. Add a splash of milk, about 2 t, or however much you like, and stir. Enjoy!

 And now on to "fried" (baked) pickles. This is a messy recipe. It takes way longer if you don't just embrace the messiness. I used this recipe, slightly modified, and they came out delicious.

"Fried" Baked Pickles

3 Large Pickles

3 Eggs

3 T Milk

1 C Flour

1/2 C Bread Crumbs

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Mix the eggs and milk together and put the flour and breadcrumbs each in a seperate bowl. Slice your pickles into chips or spears. Dip the pickles in the flour, then the milk/egg mixture, then the breadcrumbs. Place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes. Dip in ranch and enjoy!

It's a Party! Or is it?

 Sorry for the poor quality of these pictures, my camera kept dying so I couldn't spend too much time taking pictures. I wore this dress the other day for work and SO many people asked me where I was going afterwards. Wearing a dress is a little rare these days I guess. I got this dress at Kohls on sale a few years ago, my scarf was a gift during a Bible Study program, my earrings were a gift from my sister, and my necklace was a gift from a teacher of mine a few years ago. 

Just a Little Update

So I haven't blogged in what seems like forever and I have so many posts I've been meaning to type out. But I've been so busy I haven't had time! So I thought I'd first give you a little update on my life and what I'm hoping to start in regards to the blog. First of all, I had an AMAZING time in the Dominican Republic. It was better than last year, and I didn't think that was possible. God taught me a lot about trust during the trip, and I'm so glad I got the chance to go. If you want to hear more I'd absolutely LOVE to talk about it; let's get coffee :) I'm already saving money for next year! Which brings me to the next point: jobs. I have one! Exciting, right? I'm got a summer job at a non-profit on post and I'm having a blast! I have been so blessed in this regard since coming back to the states. I was pretty worried about it, but God has bombarded me with answered prayers. It's pretty awesome. And lastly, I have some cool things I'm hoping to do with the blog, starting with a post schedule. Fancy, right? I'm hoping to do a specific food post on Saturdays. I have a really cute idea, but you'll have to wait until Saturday for more details :) So stay tuned, there's lots of fun coming!