everyday food made simple

Welcome to the very first post of my new weekly series here on SEF, which I am calling “What You Need To Know Tuesdays”. I wanted to call it “What You Need To Know… Or What You Might Not Care About But I Want To Share It With You Anyway”, but then the abbreviation would’ve been WYNTKORWYMNCABIWTSIWYA, and that seemed a little ridiculous.

I figured this can be a place where I share interesting links I have stumbled upon on the interweb throughout the week, and serve as a platform for everyone to chime in and share things as well.

1. Did anyone try the birthday frappuccino from Starbucks last week? You know, the cake batter-flavored blended sugary drink that is topped with a pretty pink whipped cream that they rolled out to celebrate Frappuccino’s 20th birthday? It sounded amazing, and it tasted just as equally amazing.

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2. Does anyone have any experience with compact digital cameras such as these or these? We have a big trip coming up and I really don’t want to lug around my giant heavy DSLR camera during this trip and would really like something that’s light, compact for traveling but yet still takes high-quality pictures like my DSLR. Thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

3. In case you’re planning on spring cleaning soon, here’s 10 handy-dandy little shortcuts you can use. I’m quite dreading the weekend when we decide to tackle cleaning and purging things from our garage.

4. This potato salad. Bacon and Sriracha? Sold.

5. Apparently I’m on a salad kick because this pasta salad also looks and sounds amazing. I have a feeling I’ll be making a lot of pasta salads this summer.

6. A brewing guide for all coffee lovers. It’s more like a flowchart, which greatly pleases my Type A OCD personality. Me? I usually either go for my Keurig or Starbucks/Caribou.

7. A list of useful nail hacks for future manicures. I don’t paint my nails and get manicures on a regular basis (unless you count once a year as “regular”), but I’m definitely going to refer back to this guide next time when I get them done!

8. Are you ready for Easter? If you’ll be knee deep in dying Easter eggs this weekend, here’s a guide on how to make your own natural dyes that’s pretty, vibrant, and bold in color.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

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1. I can’t believe it’s already November. In less than two months, we’ll be waving 2014 good-bye and welcoming in 2015. It seemed like it wasn’t all that long ago that I was just making new year resolutions! I honestly think the days and years go by faster as you get older.

2. The weather in Minnesota was gorgeous this fall. It was sunny and warm almost every day… until this week. I’m pretty sure as Daylight Savings Time ended, so did our streak of beautiful warm weather. This past week, it snowed. SNOWED!!!!! And the highs are only supposed to be in the upper teens~lower 20s this weekend and next week. 

Can everyone else just pause what they’re doing for a minute and panic with me?

The streets in our neighborhood are completely iced over but thank goodness the highways are clear (for now). I’m already bundled in layers and whining about how cold it is and winter hasn’t even really started yet. I just might decide to hibernate underneath the warmth of my covers for the next 6 months. Wake me up when it’s 50 and above.

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***They said these temperatures are about 20 degrees below average for this time of year!***

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3. Even though Thanksgiving is the next holiday in line, it seems like all the store shelves are already full of Christmas merchandises and everything peppermint chocolate. I was unable to resist the temptation of all things Christmas and already gave in to all the fun Christmas-y things, just one mere day after Halloween was over (sorry, Thanksgiving!).

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4. Call us lame, but Brian and I usually go all out and plan a full Thanksgiving menu for just the two of us. It’s not that we’re loners (or losers)… it’s just that our families and friends either live far far away or have families of their own. Plus with my job, there’s usually a good chance that I’ll be working one (or all) of the major holidays. So for the past few years, we’ve been celebrating by ourselves. This year we’ll be having our Thanksgiving feast on Black Friday (I’ll be working all day Thanksgiving) – we already planned out our entire Thanksgiving menu last weekend, and this weekend I will be constructing a Thanksgiving timeline… because that’s totally what normal non-type-A-OCD-people do, right?

5. I also decided to be ahead of the game this year and ordered our Christmas cards a few weeks ago. They just came in the mail today, and I will be addressing them this weekend so they will be ready to be mailed out right after Thanksgiving. Getting things done way ahead of time makes me feel like I have my life together.

6. Has anyone had these? They’re ridiculously addicting and delicious! I’ve been having a hard time finding them at my local Target – the only place I have seen them is in the checkout aisle.

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7. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Just don’t torture your dog with peppermint cookie ice cream like I did…

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Lets be real here: no one is sadder about summer ending than I am. But as we welcome the cooler weather, the arrival of pumpkin spice lattes, apple season, delicious-smelling candles and soaps from Bath and Body Works, I feel like I should give summer the proper send-off by reflecting all the fun we had the past few months..

There was a lot of iced coffee involved…

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When I wasn’t working or baking/cooking and overdosing myself on caffeine, I was inseparable with my Kindle. I felt like was a nerd, and I was okay with it. I don’t think I’ve read so many books in so little time in my life. Here’s a glimpse of what I read this summer – out of all the ones I read, I think Dark Places and Labor Day were my favorite.

I read The Fault In Our Stars just to see what the fuss was about, and I thought it was just okay. I didn’t cry like a lot of people did… does that make me insensitive? I thought it was sad, but not sad enough to cry (books don’t make me cry much in general).

I’m currently reading The Book Thief and I’m liking it so far. I have Brain On Fire and Abducted next on my list, along with 43 other books on my Amazon wish list…

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I feel like there’s always a “theme” to my summers. Last year was the Summer of Homemade Drinks. This year was the Summer of Homemade Frozen Treats. Ice cream, custard, popsicles were my summer anthems.

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We also made s’mores. Lots and lots of s’mores. Especially peanut butter s’mores. Amazeballs, I tell ya (I’m a little ashamed I just actually typed that word).

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And grilled. A lot. Brian also bought a smoker, which he loved using.. and I loved eating everything that came off of it.

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We took a little road trip up to Brainerd one weekend for a biking trip (the Paul Bunyan Trail it totally worth checking out). It was a pretty successful trip, if you don’t count the fact that I ended up wrecking my bike by falling on it. I didn’t fall while riding on my bike… I literally fell onto my bike while walking it back to the hotel. My knees were cut up and bruised in the shape of the spokes and my wheel was totally bent from my entire body landing on top of it. It was quite embarrassing, but I was more sad about breaking my bike and having to spend money to fix it.

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Nothing a little bit of good food, chocolate, and ice cream can’t fix though.

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And of course, you can’t forget the Minnesota State Fair that officially marks the end of summer.

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As much as I love digging out those fall boots and hoodies from the closet, a little piece of me cried inside when I had to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath my scrubs the other day.. and I already caved and bought my first pumpkin drink of the season (I suck at resisting peer pressure).

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© Simple Everyday Food. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use any of my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or kindly link back to this post for the recipe.

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Instead of writing a blog post on what my life has been like lately (because who would want to listen to me talk about my day when that’s what husbands are for), I decided to write about a few “new” things in my life that are more worth talking about…

1.  What’s new: Books

The Goldfinch

I initially saw a fellow food blogger post this book on her Instagram feed months and months ago, and a few months later, it was listed as one of the “Top 10 books” on People magazine, and since anything that makes it on Instagram and People magazine must be good, I decided to give it a try. I’m only about 10% into the 770-page book, but so far I like it. Not quite the page-turner I was hoping it would be, but it’s good enough to keep me interested in reading a few chapters every night. I’ve heard from multiple people that it does turn out to be quite a good book in the end, so I’m hoping things will pick up a bit the more I get into it.

Since we’re on the subject of books, can I just say that my books-I-want-to-read list on Amazon is growing by the week? It started out as 14 books. Then it grew to 20. Now it’s currently sitting at 29 books. That’s going to be a lot of money spent on books. 

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Where I’m going to find the time to read 29 books, I don’t know, but I’ll keep you posted.

2.  What’s new: Things

I’m in love with this honey pot from Le Creuset. They also have a garlic keeper that is also on my “Want” list on Amazon (Yes I already have one. No there’s nothing wrong with the one I have… all Le Creuset products are just automatically cooler in my world).

3.  What’s new: TV shows

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New seasons for Survivor and The Amazing Race have started. I’m digging the new Brawn vs. Brains. vs. Beauty thing Survivor is doing this season…. it’s about time they change things up a bit. I think I would totally belong in the Brains tribe – I’m too big of a nerd not to. I’m also very excited that one of my all-time favorite Food Network shows – Worst Cooks in America, is back on again. Have you ever watched that show before? It’s awesome. I’m Team Anne all the way!

4.  What’s new: Weather

I think the state of Minnesota was saving their warm weather for after we have “sprung forward”, because it has been in the high 40s for the past two days, and everyone is loving it. People can finally go out without a heavy winter coat. They are now driving with windows down (bless their brave souls – I’ll wait til May to do that). Just yesterday I went to the gas station and two ladies carried out a total of 6 Slurpies.

#youknowitswarminminnesotawhen: 1) 40 degrees is considered a “heat wave”, and 2) people are walking around in shorts and a hoodie slurping on cold blended beverages.

Everyone came out of their winter hibernation and are now out and enjoying the sunny warm(er) weather. It’s amazing what a 10-degree jump in temperatures can do to your psyche… even Bentley is in love with this warm up since he got to go to the dog park two days in a row!

With winter, cold, snow, and salt on the roads also comes with everyone’s favorite – potholes. Not just your ordinary little potholes – these are potholes big enough to swallow my car. I hit a ginormous pothole on the way to the coffee shop a few weeks back and I thought the whole front wheel of my car was going to break off. I think my heart jumped to my throat, my hands got super sweaty, and I probably mumbled a few curse words under my breath.

The interstates are just as bad. Driving on the highway is like driving Mario Kart trying to dodge the slippery banana peels. Except I not only have to watch out for banana peels (patches of black ice), I also have to swerve and avoid hitting potholes that can break my car. I have already learned where all the major potholes are on my route to work – I can probably draw you a map of where each one is located (and if it’s towards the left or right side of the lane). It takes talent to be able to drive anywhere without your teeth clattering half the way to your destination.

5. What’s new: Food

These.

Have you seen these before? I saw it on commercial last week and decided to give it a try. It also comes in a sharp white cheddar flavor, but I think the cheddar ranch is my favorite. I was actually pleasantly surprised – they do have the texture of a “chip”. Not chip as in potato chips, but like a cracker chip. It’s got a nice crunch to it, which I actually prefer more than the original flakier Cheez-Its. They are also extremely addicting. I catch myself reaching into the box eating one after another after another after another. Even when my brain tells me it’s enough, my mouth still tells me it needs more….

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I know I haven’t done one of these in months and months – will you forgive me? My last quarter in school was so hectic and busy that it seemed like my life was on autopilot – I simply went through the same motions every day in an attempt to stay above water.

Going to class, full time internship, studying for exams, getting homework done, finding (healthy) things to eat every day, coming up with ideas for blog posts, making food for blog posts, taking pictures for said food, finding time to blog about them, and taking care of the house and family (furry babies)… I barely had enough time to sleep. Someone told me sleep is for the weak. Who needs it anyway?!

Boy am I glad my life is kind of getting back to normal – here are some things that have been going on in my life latley…

1. 2014 WINTER OLYMPICS

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Who else is excited for the XXII Olympic Winter Games that’s coming up in less than 10 days?! This girl sure is. I look forward to the 17-day festivities every four years – it’s way more exciting than any major sporting event in my little world. Forget the Superbowl, forget the Summer Olympics, and forget the FIFA World Cup – the Winter Games rank #1 on my all-time list. Short track and long track speedskating are definitely my two favorite events. It was the whole reason I got into the sport of speedskating to begin with 12 years ago. I remember watching the 2002 Salt Lake games in high school and immediately falling in love with the sport – I thought to myself, “this sport is so cool. I want to do that.” A few months later, I owned my very first pair of speedskates and never turned back since. What are your favorite events to watch? Snowboarding, skiing, bobsledding, skeleton, and luge are some of my other favorites… basically any sport that involves going down a track/slope in insanely fast speeds. (logo from thelogofactory.com)

2. READING FOR FUN

It has been a long time since I had the chance to sit down and read books “for fun”. I used to feel guilty about sitting on the couch for a few hours every night reading on my Kindle, simply because I felt like time spent reading should be better spent doing homework or studying or something “productive”. I have come to the conclusion that I simply cannot sit and relax for a night without feeling guilty. It’s a serious problem and I hate it. I hate sitting on the couch doing “nothing” (reading, watching TV) because I feel like I’m wasting time. Time that could be used to do productive things like studying, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, brainstorming recipe ideas, writing blog posts, or organizing my life. These two books are new additions to my Kindle library. I’ve already finished “The Husband’s Secret” and have just started “Divergent“. The Husband’s Secret is a super easy book to read – it’s one of those that you can finish within a day or two and will leave you thinking. Divergent is the first book of a trilogy, and it is coming out as a major motion picture this March, so I figured why not give it a try… supposedly it is sorta similar to the Hunger Games trilogy, which I liked, so I’m hoping I’ll like this one too.

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3. KITCHEN MAKEOVER

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that we are currently in the process of giving our kitchen a makeover. A few months ago, it started with new appliances after our refrigerator decided it was time to die on us. Then a few weeks ago, we installed our new granite countertops along with a new sink and faucet. Then we bought a few dozen sheets of glass/stone mosaic backsplash, so getting that installed would be next on the agenda.

4. MY INSTAGRAM ADDICTION

“Hi, I’m Amy. And I’m addicted to Instagram.” Seriously, out of all the available social media networks that I’m a part of (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn), Instagram has got to be my favorite. I love being able to document my everyday life through pictures with a simple caption. I also love following a variety of people that I normally wouldn’t follow on Twitter simply because, who would want to scroll through a bunch of words when they can scroll through a bunch of fun pictures instead? It’s fun to show friends and family a glimpse of my everyday life, and seeing what other people’s lives are like in return. (that sounded just a tad creepy, but I promise I’m not a stalker!)

5. LIFE PLANNER

Even though I’m now done with school and it seems like there’s nothing worth writing in a planner other than the days that I work, I still catch myself feeling lost and overwhelmed without one. Although I consider myself a tech savvy individual and it’s easy and convenient to simply put things down on my computer’s calendar and have it synced to my phone, there’s still something about being able to physically write things down on a traditional planner that makes me feel a little bit more organized. Like I have my life together. And for that reason, I decided to get a Life Planner this year, after hearing so many wonderful things about it from the blogging world. It doesn’t hurt that the pretty colors make it that much more inviting and fun to use…. not that that was a factor in determining which one I ended up getting………[ahem]

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6.  SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

Who will you be rooting for this Sunday when the Broncos take on the Seahawks? Our house is rooting for the SEAHAWKS, since, well, we’re practically in love with that city. We also have a few delicious finger foods planned and while Brian watches the game, I will be looking forward to all the commercials!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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