food that people should make me

hi. i'm lazy, but i love food. so if someone could make me all these things, i'd really appreciate it.

cinnamon scones

no bake energy bars

real fruit rollups

cheesy sweet potato crisps

sincerely, jess the hungry monster

banana/zucchini bread muffins

i had two bananas that were about to go bad, and while Henry loves bananas, i can't feed the poor kid two whole bananas tomorrow. he would probably be constipated for days! haha. i looked up some banana bread recipes, and they all required 3-4 bananas. also, we didn't have any eggs left. so i decided to get creative...

side note, one of the guys i work with brought in tons of squash from his garden. since i've been making my own baby food, i jumped on the chance to take some home. i had already turned one of the zucchini's into baby food the other day, and i still had two huge squash left. there was so much that i couldn't even make it all into baby food, so i grated up some of the zucchini to incorporate into my banana bread experiment.

free and organic? sweet!

i'm going to share the recipe, in case you care to recreate it:

[recipe adapted from food.com]

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
~1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 bananas
~3/4 cup grated zucchini (I think any amount between 1/2 cup to a full cup or so would work)
1/2 cup applesauce (I used a snack cup of applesauce, cuz I'm classy like that...it looked to be equal to about half a cup...)
4 tablespoons softened butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl
3. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl along with grated zucchini
4. Mix applesauce, butter, and vanilla in with the banana/zucchini
5. Add the wet (banana-y) mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. I just stirred it with a spatula (although the original recipe says to do it by hand).
6. I scooped the batter into cupcake liners (I have silicone liners, you can see in the picture), but you can put it in a bread pan too
7. Bake the cupcakes for 25-30 minutes (I did 28 mins and they were perfect).
[The original recipe had it in a bread pan and said to bake for 45 minutes]

and voila, delicious muffins! somehow i accidentally ate 5 right away. Josh even ate one and not only finished it, but said it was good! that's saying a lot, people. also, what other blog would have the word "constipated" and a recipe in the same post? ;) bon appetit!

success!

ok, so it took me until saturday to make these, BUT i had a reason for that. it was my friend sarah's bridal shower that night, so i was waiting for that to make them. so it may not have been accomplished in exactly a week from my post, but close enough. i was pleasantly surprised how easy baking was with a kitchenaid. you just dump stuff in and it turns all beautiful and perfect looking. it was amazing!

so...my cupcakes weren't as beautiful as the ones i found on pinterest, but i'm not a magician! plus i don't have special frosting tools. and i skipped making the ganache, because i figured they'd be delicious enough as they were. and no worries, they were scrumptious. the only problem with these was that the rolo's that were inside the batter melted down to the bottom of the cupcake liner, and were stuck on there. i even froze them and everything like the recipe said, so who knows what i did wrong. i baked a few in my silicone cupcake liners, and those were fine because the rolo's peeled right off. moral of the story? just bake everything in silicone cups (i would have if i hadn't been bringing them to a party...wah wahhhhh).

now, what should i make next in my kitchenaid!?

fail.

i got a kitchenaid mixer for christmas, and it's still in the box. FAIL. sometimes i feel like baking, but these times usually come when a baby is crying or theres laundry to do... i really feel like making cupcakes, so my goal is that i WILL make cupcakes using my kitchenaid within this next week... here are some yummy recipes i've found on pinterest that i am considering:

chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake

andes mint cupcake

rolo cupcakes

opinions? suggestions? i cant wait to eat some cupcaaaaaakes!!!

pumpkin chocolate chip bread

i grew up on this stuff. every fall my mom would bake a billion loaves for us because we would devour it. it's the best pumpkin chocolate chip bread i've ever tasted in my life. so since i got bitten by the fall baking bug, i asked my mom to send me the recipe. and it is just too delicious to not share, so here it is so you can make some for yourselves!


pumpkin chocolate chip bread:

2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves [i didn't have this so i just added a little extra cinnamon instead]
2/3 cup coarsely chopped nuts [i left these out, and just added extra choc chips]
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 9x5x3 inches, or 3 loaf pans, 8.5x4.5x2.5 inches. Mix shortening and sugar in large bowl. Add eggs, pumpkin, and water. Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Pour into pans. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes; cool slightly. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans. Cool completely before slicing. To store, wrap and refrigerate no longer than 10 days.

bon appetit! let me know if you try it ♥

foodie ♥

in the past couple weeks i've been bitten by the fall baking bug. i just made that phrase up, but i feel like its a real thing so we'll go with it. two weekends ago i made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. it was my first time making them (or anything with pumpkin, to be honest), and thankfully they turned out delicious. i found the recipe on pinterest of course, here is the link.

here's what mine looked like. not as beautiful a presentation as her blog, but still yummy.

the day after i made the cookies, our friends emily and dave came over for some halloween fun (we watched quarantine, eeps!). we also made caramel apples, "gourmet" style. i only make these once or twice a year now, so its considered a special occasion. maybe one of these days i'll feel nice enough to post the secret recipe ;)

apples after dipping w/the homemade caramel

the final product (caramel, white chocolate, and cinnamon sugar)
[pictures courtesy of emily]

bringing in treats to work (cookies, caramel, and caramel apples) caused quite a stir. people were like "what is happening? where is this coming from? yay!" haha. and then one of my coworkers joked that i'm nesting. so when i brought in pumpkin chocolate chip bread (maybe i'll post the recipe soon!) this week to work, everyone was thrilled. the running joke now is that i need to be allowed to work from home part time so i can "nest" and bake more treats for everyone. to which i'm like *where do i sign up?!*

now everyone is wondering what i'll bring in next. thankfully i have pinterest to supply me with lots of delicious ideas, so these are a few i might be trying in the upcoming weeks or so:
chocolate chip cookie dough truffles
peppermint cream bites
twix brownie bars
creamy mints

have you guys been in the fall baking mood? any recipes you'd recommend?

27 weeks and other random stuff

well hello third trimester. so nice to meet you. its hard to believe you're already here! i feel like my belly has no more room, which makes it hard to believe i still have three full months left! eeks!

favorite foods this week: bean with bacon soup (i want to eat it every night for dinner!), caramels, hot chocolate, and strawberry poptarts. healthy mix, huh? don't worry, i'm still getting some fruits and veggies in :)

ew, do my arms look bigger? i think its the top i'm wearing...

yesterday night we went and saw kathy griffin in salt lake city. she was a riot, as usual. this is the third time we've seen her live, and probably the best show yet. tonight we're going to dinner with some friends, and i'm going shopping (!!) with my girl emily. you all know i'm obsessed with shopping, so its going to be a very fun night :)

also, i recently found something amazing. have you heard of sweet paul? he puts out digital magazines that are amazing, and has an awesome blog. i'm obsessed. you need to check him out if you haven't already.


this is the cover of his fall issue, and i am planning on making these maple syrup baked pears sometime soon! who wants to come over and help enjoy them? :)

happy weekend! any fun plans?

blog love: not martha

have you guys seen the blog not martha? its amazing. she is a diva, and i want to be her. my latest obsession on her blog is food baked in tiny jars. SO cute and delicious looking.

red velvet cupcakes

cobbler

pie (the heart just makes it better!)

soooo, because i'm lazy, i think someone should make all of these for me. or just buy me a bunch of little jars so one day i can make cute desserts in them. everything is just cuter when it's smaller!

you guys should check out her blog. she does more than just cook (grr, jealous) and she has tons of cool ideas. now go buy me little jars!! :)

lets WRAP. IT. UP.

DAY 26: A PICTURE OF THE LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN THEATERS
terrible movie. dont waste your time :(

DAY 27: A PICTURE OF A TRADITION YOU HAVEgoing to dinner with friends every weekend. ok, our friends arent in this picture, but they took it. so...thats proof, right? hahaha. we love food, and we love friends. oh, and eachother ;)

DAY 28: A PICTURE OF YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO SHOPforever 21. its so cheap!!! and cute. and i love it.

DAY 29: A PICTURE OF WHERE YOU LIVEyes, i live in a subdivision. but look at our view! usually i totally take it for granted, but sometimes i just look around when we're driving around our house and i'm like "aww, its so pretty!" i like it :)

DAY 30: A PICTURE OF YOUR FAVORITE SPORTi hate sports. however, i do enjoy watching the winter olymics. skiing, moguls, snowboarding, ice skating, etc. i'm hooked the whole time!

well, that was fun. i'm kind of glad its over haha. and now back to regular blogging ;) stay tuned. ♥

day 12

DAY 12: A PICTURE OF SOMETHING YOU LIKE

PIZZZAAAAAA!!!!!! i love pizza. it's my favorite food, and i could eat it every day. one time my freshman year i made a bet with one of my friends that i could eat pizza every single day for longer than him. and of course, i won. also, last week i ate it at least 5 out of 7 days. i can't help myself, its just so perfect and delicious!!!

whats your favorite pizza? my #1 is pepperoni, and my #2 is my garlic chicken ranch pizza. yummmmmmm!!

jessie homemaker?

naww...but i did make some stuff this week. in keeping with my 4 simple goals, i've been trying [read: struggling] to make meals for dinner. a couple months ago i found a recipe in real simple for this cheesy chicken concoction and i thought, "hmm...josh might actually like that!" so this week i decided to finally make it.


it looks a little weird but trust me, it was delish. i couldnt find the recipe online [they probably dont put it online because it's in the mag? idk] but if you want the recipe you can email me.

now...a few weeks ago we were watching project runway and then josh goes, "why dont you ever make me anything?" and i was like "umm....you've never asked?" and then he asked me to make him a tshirt that would fit him perfectly. i figured a t-shirt would be pretty easy, and set off to buy some knit fabric the next day. i didn't have a coupon for joann's, so the materials ended up being about $10 per shirt (i bought enough to make 3). i took one of josh's favorite shirts that fits him pretty close to perfect, and traced it (i used wrapping paper for the pattern, haha). i was really nervous about the sleeves, but they actually ended up perfect..

the HARDEST part for me was the stupid collar. i scoured the web for tips and tricks and how i should do it exactly. i redid that collar so many times i wanted to rip up the shirt. the first time i couldn't even stretch it right to line up at all. the second time it was too small and josh couldn't even get his head through. then times 3-5 it made it look like a turtleneck. that was a lot of seam-ripping. finally, the 6th time it looked semi-normal. i had him try it on and the collar was a tiny bit too big for his liking, and you could see part of his undershirt (which is one of his biggest pet peeves, and the major reason he wanted me to make him shirts). so, i improvised. i cut the collar and down into the shirt, and then sewed it off to the side. it created an obvious pucker, but i was SO sick of it by then i didn't even care. i added buttons and voila...a modern shirt? after all that work, it only turned out ok.


determined to make a better shirt, yesterday i started shirt #2. i finished it today, and the collar turned out perfect THE FIRST TIME! i ignored the instructions i found online and just winged it myself. and voila: perfection. i sewed a little pattern on the front and after it's washed it will [hopefully] fit perfect. [i guess practice really does make perfect? or somewhat close to it...]

bad picture, horrible lighting, yada yada. sorry.

also, i made another elastic waist skirt. it was just so easy, i had to do another one. i'm planning on wearing it to church tomorrow, so maybe i'll do an outfit post for it or something. i'm glad i've been sewing more, and i hope to keep getting better and better as i keep sewing and trying new and challenging projects. and if you ever see josh and he's wearing one of my shirts, please just tell him it looks good. for my sake, not his. haha ♥

thank you betty

last week i made cookies. they were delicious. oatmeal chocolate chip, a la betty crocker [oh,and a la csn]. i got a silicone baking mat from them because i was really intrigued by the one my mom had. this one was only $9, and was awesome. it was delivered within a day or two after ordering it. the cookies baked evenly and perfectly, and slipped right off the mat. when i was all done i threw it in the dishwasher, even though the only stuff that was left on it was some melted chocolate chips. it came out perfectly clean and i was so happy!

the baking mat fit right into the cookie sheet, and was awesome. i hate washing cookie sheets so it was awesome that this could be folded up and thrown into the washer. and the cookies were DELICIOUS! i swear they were all gone in a 24 hour period.


ALSO, i have been doing better at making dinner. tonight i wanted to go out to eat but instead we stayed in and i made something for the first time [by myself]: french toast. yummmmmmm! the funny thing is, it's one of my all-time favorite meals. yet i always rely on others to make it for me. so finally tonight i got it together, and me and betty put our heads together and came up with this:

yum! it was delish. while i was still cooking some on the stove josh was preparing his french toast. he was adding powdered sugar and this was the conversation that followed:

josh: mmmmm, do you understand how good powdered sugar is!? whoever invented it is genius. it's like heaven!
me: umm...i know. when i was younger i would sneak into the pantry with a big soup spoon and eat it out of the bag.
josh: well well well, jess did start young!

hahaha. it's true. happy weekend!! ♥

outfit of the day, tucano's style

we went to tucano's for dinner tonight for josh's work. i hardly ate all day so i'd be super hungry for dinner, so i could eat as much as possible. and i seriously ate myself silly. i even got dessert!

top: shade
necklace: liv(e) and love
belt: thrifted
jeans: forever 21 [seen here]
wedges: payless

after dinner we hung out with jeff and darci. and little mona pooped on me. it was the weirdest thing because i fed her and then was burping her. after a while she started getting fussy so i went to pass her off to darci and then i noticed there was something yellow-brown on her brand new shoes, and on my shirt and belt. i was like *that's a weird color for spit up...* and then darci informed me it was poop. hahaha. oopsie, mona had a poopsie!! she's so cute though i didn't even care [plus they washed my shirt for me so it was all good]. don't you just love babies? hehe ♥

cupcakes! ♥

remember how i told you i was going to do a csn product review? i got a few different items so i'll probably be doing a couple other posts about csn items in the upcoming weeks but these were the first items i have used. ok, so everyone loves cupcakes, right? i mean...duh. they're all the rage right now, and with good reason (they're delish of course!). i saw these little beauties online: le creuset baking cups. they come in packs of 6 and have a bunch of different colors. i literally got these pink and green ones THE DAY AFTER I ORDERED THEM! i was shocked. so these are silicone baking cups and they are currently on sale for $9.95. the picture shown on their site for the pink ones looks a little purple to me, but they arrived in a very pretty light pink color, as seen below:

these things are awesome. i had never even heard of them, so i was a bit skeptical at first. i thought they might be a bit on the pricey side, but if they worked it would be awesome. and they did! my main draw to get these is that they are reusable, which means less paper being thrown away! my main [read: only] beef with cupcakes is that the paper can't even be recycled because they get all gross from the cupcakes, so you are always wasting something when you eat them. so hello, reusable, eco-friendly cupcake/muffin liners!!!

these babies are flexible and non-stick, so you can just pull away a perfect cupcake from them. they are oven, microwave, fridge, freezer, and dishwasher safe. can it get any better? oh...yes. you don't even need a muffin tin to bake them: they stand up all by themselves. i was the most worried about that part because i thought cake batter would be oozing all over the place and i'd have a big mess. but nope! they worked fabulously. the bottom of the cup is sort of slip resistant too, so in moving the cookie sheet into the oven they don't slide around or anything either.

i baked 12 in the silicone ones, and 9 in regular paper liners. this (^above^) is how they came out of the oven.

look how big and fluffy they are! perfection!

bottom line: these are awesome. i think they are worth the price because they are reusable so you will have them for a while, and they work really well. overall i was very impressed. the cupcakes just popped right out of the liners with no mess or fuss. the transaction with csn went smoothly and the shipping was super fast so i was very pleased. go check out csn stores to find these and thousands of other great products!

funny stuff and a new DIY

i should seriously have a whole separate blog for the funny conversations i have with my husband. he is the funniest person i know in real life, which is why i married him (duh). anyways, the other day i cleaned the back room, cleared some shelving space for all my fabric, and cleaned off the sewing desk. this simple act of cleaning the sewing desk added room for my computer to sit, and then i just kept being on the computer back here. josh accused me of being a hermit, and i matter-of-factly told him that it feels like my new "office." so just about half an hour ago i was sitting back here working on something and calmly told josh that there is a turd in the litter box (also, conveniently located in the closet of the 2nd bedroom). he didn't exactly care.. fast forward about 20 minutes, where this conversation happened in the front room:

me: im gonna go blog in my office
josh: your office has a turd in it

such a sweetie, huh? hahaha♥. anyways, yesterday i worked on a little project that was inspired by this post from the blog ruffles and stuff. unfortunately she has stopped writing on that blog but she left it up full of lots of tutorials and fun things. i took this project from her tutorial about refashioning a long sleeve top into a short sleeve with ruffles.

in hers she just has one panel of ruffles going all the way down the front, with the buttons all the way down in the middle. i decided to just do ruffles on the top, and do 2 layers, with a smaller layer overlapping the larger layer on bottom. [i wish i would have checked out this tutorial before i made it so my ruffles could have looked more finished, but oh well..] the lighting in my apartment is horrible so the shirt actually looks a lot better in person, and the buttons are all pink vintage buttons from my collection. i'm pretty pleased with it, since i hardly ever wore this shirt (i'm not a huge fan of long sleeve shirts) and i found i don't have as many short sleeve ones as i would like.


i think it's pretty cute now. what do you think? are you going to go tear through your closet for all your long sleeved shirts now? haha. there are a ton of other cute tutorials on that blog that you should go check out.

it's been a pretty chill monday night. we were supposed to go out to dinner for josh's work but that fell through. boo. instead we watched our most recent netflix arrival: it's complicated. see what we thought on our review blog. it wasn't a totally wasted night though because we had delicious eggs in a basket. yum.

what did you do tonight?

i'm baaaack!

but only for the weekend. then it's off to camping again. for five more weeks to be precise. ugh. anyways, this week wasnt terrible. now that i am getting in better shape the job is a bit more enjoyable. i can hike without dying. speaking of hiking, we hiked about 14 miles this past week. not a ton, but that was in two and a half days. on monday we just got the trailer set up and then went and looked at projects that have been done (stream restoration, wetlands created, etc). that was pretty fun, except i got sunburnt BAD. since we were just looking at stuff i didnt even think to put sunscreen on. thankfully my coworker had brought ocean potion, which i slathered on for the rest of our trip.

one of my favorite moments of the week was that we made smores. i bought smores stuff, and at the grocery store in kamas they had HUGE marshmallows. like, as big as my fist [no joke]. it was insane. since we didnt feel like lighting a fire this particular night, we cooked them over the gas range. they were delicious. although we found that the huge marshmallows might have been a mistake. they were so big that we had to use full graham crackers. all the rest in the little pack were already broken by the time i'd finished cooking my marshmallow, so i got 4 half pieces. bad idea.

warning: i look DISGUSTING/disturbing in this picture (i was laughing). but this is how messy eating the smore was. actually, it was messier, but you get the idea:

so altogether, the week was pretty good. i slipped and fell in the stream on tuesday and hit my knee on a rock pretty bad (and since then my leg below the knee feels kinda messed up) but im sure its nothing major. i have a nice little bruise where it hit the rock though. and since that day ive been scared to cross streams, because i'm nervous i'll fall in again. wouldnt you know it, on wednesday i stepped on a rock in the stream and it slipped right out from under me. at least this time only my one foot fell in and got soaking wet. ahh, the life of being rugged...

anyways, that was my week at work camping. i should have taken more pictures of stuff. i'll take my camera this next week. it was heavenly to come home to a nice hot shower (and presents in the mail! i'll fill you in tomorrow).

stay tuned for a ROCKIN GIVEAWAY tomorrow!!! [you won't want to miss it!]

ps: check out livia's giveaway to win $40 at CSN!

latest obsession

thank goodness for friends who bring you goodies
del taco has our favorite ones so far ♥

faves in picture form

saw this on my girl's blog after i do. we're really just blog friends, but that counts as real friends, right? hahaha ♥

1. Favorite hobby?crafting

2. Favorite tv show?project runway


3. Favorite restaurant food?
red robin's BLTA (having it tonight! yummmm!)

4. Favorite thing to shop for?
i love forever 21.
even tho josh says their mannequins always look like they're pooping (kinda true, huh?)

5. Favorite animal?
dogs!
(i like cats too, but i love dogs. see my dog emma in the last pic. soooo cute!)

6. Favorite song?anything by queen. i ♥ them

7. Favorite word?lately it's "thank you" said in a funny, prissy way

8. Recent favorite youtube video?

it's a classic...

9. Favorite movie?best in show

10. Favorite childhood memory?
playing. playgrounds. fun.

tag, you're it!
[all pics from flickr or weheartit]