You Said Blueberry What?!

It's been a while people. And by a while I mean like two weeks. How was everyone's weekend?! I spent mine relaxing mostly (watching The Hills on Netflex), I felt pretty lazy if I'm just being honest. We need days like that sometimes to re-cooperate,  no shame in that! Due to the last few weeks being devoted to getting into the swing of school, wedding planning, and catching up with friends, I haven't had much time to write about our most recent endeavors.

Where should I start?

This one needs a little background info.

Braden and I spent a few days in my hometown the week after Christmas. While we were there, my wonderful friend Paige and her family had the two of us and my mom (+ our friend Megan) over for dinner. Her mom is infamous for her awesome mashed potatoes, so naturally she made that the star of the meal. Dinner was delicious, but dessert had us especially intrigued. Paige's parent served everyone vanilla ice cream, but brought out a mysterious bottle and said "I'm not going to tell you what it is, just try it." Braden and I are usually adventurous, so we decided to go for it.

Blueberry balsamic.

Yes, I said it, blueberry balsamic paired with vanilla ice cream. Sounds awful right? Trust me, it is SO good. Of course, this turned into a great conversation about where the balsamic originated. They told us that there are two stores, one in Columbia and one in Greenville. Bray and I put it on our "to-do" list as soon as we got back to the Upstate.

Fast forward a few weeks.

We went to Greenville to check out a reception venue, and as soon as we let Braden mentioned the olive oil company. It was still pretty early (around 10:30am) so the last thing I wanted was to taste test olive oils and balsamic dressings. But, we went for it anyways, you only live once right?

As soon as we walked in we were greeted by the co-owner of the company. He explained to us the process of taste testing the olive oils. They give you a bowl with little pieces of bread so that you can test each olive oil. He explained many combinations, normal and strange, and told us about each olive oils health benefits, origin, and their best sellers. Once he got done explaining everything we were set lose to try everything!



So many great choices, they were all so good. He told us that the Tuscan Herb was one of their best sellers, which we ended up leaving with. It was too good to pass up.



After tasting all of the olive oils, you're in for a real treat. We were given a bowl of ice cream and got the run down about each of the balsamic. There were flavors from dark espresso, peach, to lavender, all of which are awesome. One of my personal favorites was Dark Espresso and Dark Chocolate. We already knew blueberry was a great choice, so we tried it in variations with the chocolate and other flavors.

Taste tester in action.

After trying multiple flavors and combinations, we ended up purchasing the blueberry and the dark chocolate. Both excellent choices.

Give Palmetto Olive Oil Co. a try! It's a fun little date spot, they make it a great experience. Not to mention that olive oil is great for adding depth to the flavor of foods and offers many health benefits. It wouldn't hurt to give some fun flavors a try when you're cooking, we've loved having the Tuscan Herb.

Here's the company's info if you're interested:
2247 Augusta Street, Greenville, SC 29605
http://www.palmettooliveoilco.com/index.php

Hope you all have a wonderful week, happy tasting!

Recent Happenings

I've really jumped off of the blogging bandwagon, and I really want to hop back on. With writing being a passion of mine, I really need to get better at keeping up with this! I've mentioned before that I have some catching up to do! What better way than to catch up in pictures?

I'm always in the mood for pancakes, and I've posted about them before in sweet potato form. I wanted to make my life a little simpler and have a little less prep time.

Enter egg and protein powder pancakes, probably the easiest combination in the world! Mix 1 scoop of protein powder, I use Sun Warrior vanilla, with 2 eggs and 1/2 tsp baking powder. They're much fluffier than I expected. I've been throwing in different mix ins (blueberries, strawberries, sunbutter, etc) but chocolate chips have definitely been a recent fav.

Another recent fave that I've mentioned before is the chocolate mug cake. I wanted to make a knock off version of PaleOMG's chocolate mug cake. Her cake is wonderful, but I felt that it could definitely be modified to be "one serving friendly."

Mix together:  1 egg, 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tbsp almond flour, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp oil, and a pinch of cinnamon. I always throw in a few chocolate chips to make it more of a treat. Microwave for 2 minutes!

This past weekend was filled with fun with friends. Friday night I went to Tigerama, a pep rally held by Clemson, for the very first time. Yes, the first time I got to go was my senior year.. and I loved it! My favorite part was when a few of our guy friends, the "320 Blues," performed the national anthem. After hanging out at Tigerama for a few hours we decided to play a few rounds of Catch Phrase, and it got INTENSE. Guys v Girls never fails to be entertaining. A fun night with friends isn't complete without some type of treat, so the girls and I headed to the store and got a huge package of cookie dough and vanilla ice cream.

Can you guess what we made?

Yep, you guessed it.. PAZOOKIE

It was totally dominated in a matter of 3 minutes, tops.

Saturday was the Clemson v Maryland game, also known as Homecoming. We spent the day tailgating around campus and eating our little hearts out. I love game days:  football, food, and friends are just a few of my favorite things. Might I add that I have the best (sassiest) friends on the planet?

Seriously, I couldn't ask for a better group of encouraging and fun people!

That's all for now!

Until next time, Happy Tuesday!

The BEST Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

As promised, I'm finally getting around to telling you about my recent fall obsession:  Chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Not only is it super easy to make, but it turns out beautifully, topped with melted chocolate chips that will make you want to eat the whole loaf.

Is your mouth watering? Mine definitely is. It is THAT good people!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Here's what you need:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup canned pure pumpkin (unsweetened)
1 cup chocolate chips
3 large eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup regular sugar

1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Here's how to make it:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, grease 9x5 loaf pan
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a medium bowl.
3. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugars until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and pumpkin.
4. Add dry ingredients, mixing until everything is evenly combined. Then, add in chocolate chips (save some for the top!)

5. Pour batter into loaf pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top (I sprinkled a lot!), then bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Once it's ready to come up, let it cool for about 15 minutes then run a knife around the pan edges to make sure it doesn't stick.

And there you have it, it's that easy! I must say, it doesn't take much to make this look pretty. It does most of the work for you! I sliced some up and took it to a tailgate last weekend and it was a huge hit!

What's your favorite way to incorporate pumpkin into a tasty treat?

Faith Without Deeds is Dead

Let's just jump right into it. The Lord has been teaching me so much the past few weeks. A reoccurring theme, though, has been that faith without deeds is dead. Did that hit anyone else over the head? Lately, I've been focusing on being active in activities that involve worshipping God. Whether that means participating in a small group, going to a worship service. or simply going to church. But, have I really done anything?

Debatable. Faith alone does not mean you're righteous.

I've been reading through the book of James and surprisingly it has rocked my world. I say that's surprising, but walking with the Lord always is - so really I shouldn't be surprised haha. This morning, James 3 was speaking right to me.

Verse 2 claims, "We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never in fault in what they say is perfect." Basically, everyone stumbles and we are no where near perfect. Verses 5, 8, and 9 all speak volumes about how our tongue is used to bring harm or to bring glory. Verse 5, "the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts." Isn't it funny how our tongue is the strongest muscle in our body, and it can do the most damage when it comes to speaking harsh or contradictory words? I never realized how much harm we can do with our words.

Satan has a way of tricking us into using our words for evil, rather than using them to bring joy to others. It may sound crazy, but think about it, when is the last time you vented about someone around you and didn't think twice about it. That vent session was an outlet to curse others - and that same tongue is used to praise God. See the problem?

I was not created to be perfect. God has created us to spread his wealth and to spread His good news. Our tongue can be used for evil if we're not careful and if we're not seeking the words to say from the Lord. Be mindful of your conversations, someone may overhear that vent session and you may lose your credibility. Some may hang on to your words, so use them to glorify the Lord.

Our words are a gift to speak praise and encouragement! Live a life of good deeds and pure words, the Lord will bless that by giving you "wisdom that  is pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere" verse 17.

I needed that hit on the head. Who knows, maybe one of you did too!

Anyone else feeling the weight here? Maybe I should lighten it up a little! On a lighter note, here are a few gems from this past weekend and so far this week.

Of course I started out my weekend at home at one of my favorite places, Red Bowl. Our great, silly friend Burt tagged along and graced us with his presence.

This little guy was hanging out on the door when we got home!

Burt also helped while I was baking Papa's cake by decorating cookies to reflect his Clemson pride. I must say, he has quite the creative side!

The finished sugar free cake, I was so proud! Papa is diabetic, but loves sugar, so I had to make sure it was just as sweet and delicious as any other cake!

 Madre and I treated ourselves to a mani&pedi morning which was wonderful and relaxing.

 I had a hankering for chocolate yesterday but didn't want to put in too much effort. The outcome? Chocolate mug cake! Throw in 3 tbsp almond flour, 1 egg, 1 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp cocoa powder, a little dash of cinnamon and a little bit of vanilla - microwave for 2 minutes and there ya have it! Delicious!

Tay and I went on a spontaneous trip to Greer to see Kari Jobe perform.. FOR FREE!

She was seriously wonderful. The concert was exactly what my heart needed to refresh. Thank you for reviving my soul Jesus!

That's all I have for you so far this week. Happy Wednesday people, the weekend is almost here!

What's Baking Wednesday

I thought it'd be pretty fun to start a little weekly blog post about recipes I've tried or made that week. We'll see how this plays out after a few weeks, but for now I like the idea :)

Two things I have been missing since starting Paleo are sweet breads and the sweet crunch of cereal with berries in the morning. So far this week I've tried two new Paleo recipes:  Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Paleo Cereal!

So here's how it went down.

I stumbled across this recipe for chocolate zucchini bread and was dying to try it! I'm a huge fan of regular zucchini bread, so adding chocolate into the mix definitely appealed to me.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

• 1 medium zucchini, shredded (equal to 1.5 cups shredded zucchini)

• 2 eggs, whisked

• 3/4 cup sunbutter (or nutbutter if you prefer)

• 1/3 cup raw honey

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

• 2 tablespoons coconut (or almond)  flour

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt

First step:  Shred your zucchini with a cheese grater. Once the entire zucchini is shredded, place onto paper towels and squeeze out excess water.

Second step:  Mix together all ingredients without the zucchini, once elements are combined well, then add in the shredded zucchini.

Step 3:  Pour into an 8x5 loaf pan and bake at 375° for 25-35 minutes. I checked mine periodically with a tooth pick to make sure it wasn't over baking.

The bread was so moist and delicious. I definitely recommend this if you're craving that sweet bread you've been missing!

I used to eat a bowl of Kashi Go Lean or TJ's bran flakes topped with frozen blueberries every single morning (I'm a creature of habit). Since Paleo took over, I have either protein pancakes or a turkey bacon omelette every morning. The pancakes take care of my sweet fix, but for some reason I've specifically been craving some cereal with milk.

Enter the Paleo cereal phenomenon.

Paleo Cereal

• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces
• 1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp sunbutter (or nutbutter of choice)
• 1 tbsp almond butter (or nutbutter of choice)
• Drizzle with honey and cinnamon

Mix together all nuts, nutbutters, honey and cinnamon.

Put in baking dish (I used a pie pan) and pat down mixture.

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Side note, this makes your house smell delicious!

Add in some frozen or fresh blueberries and coconut milk (or almond milk) and enjoy!

I'm heading to workout at Crossfit. Today's workout is 200 double unders for time, and a 5 burpee penalty every time you mess up.. YIKES. It looks like I'll be doing a lot of burpees, which is never ever a good thing. 

Hope all of you are having a fantastic wednesday, we're half way through the work week!

Did You Say Chickpeas?!

Happy Thursday people! Even with the rainy weather, I still feel like this week has been flying! My week has been the definition of chill:  Monday Bachelorette with the ladies, Tuesday "small" group, and last night a few girls got together and watched the new Footloose. That movie could never get old, it brings out my secret dream of being a dancer, and that will probably never happen haha. I love the freedom and laid-back nature that summer comes with, because I do a lot more now than I would have ever done during the school year. Weekly girls nights or dinner dates are a common theme this summer, I'm not going to know what to do once school starts again!

Okay, enough with the babbling! Monday night Emily and I wanted to bake something to munch on while we watched the Bachelorette, so naturally, we went digging to see what ingredients she had stocked in her kitchen. Well.. Emily had stumbled across a recipe that called for chickpeas instead of flower.. that's right I said it, chickpeas. Initial reaction... gross! We were feeling pretty adventurous so we went for it!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bites

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas (well rinsed)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp natural peanut butter

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt if your PB doesn't have salt in it

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

·· Preheat oven to 350°F

·· Combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips, into a food processor (a blender works great) until very smooth

·· Make sure chickpeas are processed until they are no longer lumpy!

·· Put in the chocolate chips and stir

·· Form little balls with the dough and place onto a piece of parchment paper

·· Bake for 10 minutes!

They are so moist and gooey, seriously addicting!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far, we're almost to the weekend! I'll be heading home for a few days to celebrate my birthday with my family (a month late, no biggie haha), and I'm sure I'll go for a run or something of that sort to be outside. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend!

Cookies and Community

I've been exploring the importance of community, because it truly is one of the most powerful tools we're given!  Last summer was a little rough because I lacked community until I started working at the Bodyshop, which is hands down one of the best working environments with incredible people. This is my first summer staying in Clemson, and as we all know, it can be a little ghost town at times when everyone's gone home for break. I wanted this summer to be full of encouragement and growth, luckily, Alex and Emily had a similar summer in mind!

Alex, Em, and I at a wedding a few weeks ago!

A girl's community had been put on all of our hearts, so we decided to be obedient and move forward. We didn't want it to be exclusive or to put any maximum number of members. Naturally, creating a Facebook page was necessary, and our small group quadrupled into a massive small group of 43 girls!!! The Lord has blessed us all so much, and I'm so excited to meet new girls each week.

Instead of doing a book, our vision was to discuss a topic each week. The first time we all got together we each gave a topic, some of the topics we'll discuss this summer are contentment, what does conviction look like, finding joy in every season, body image, resting in the Lord, etc. This week we kicked off with what God is doing in your life right now - wow, each of us are in such different seasons / stages of life and it's so eye-opening at how BIG God is, and how he reaches us all in different ways. I am beyond excited to see how this summer unfolds, the Lord has huge things in store for this big group of wonderful girls!

Alright, I don't know about yall, but I love me some cookies! I recently used this recipe to make Braden a cookie cake for finishing up his second rotation at BMW. Even though it's a simple recipe, I was still super impressed at how good and moist the cookie turned out!

Giant M&M Cookie Cake Recipe

You will need:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp salt

8oz unsalted butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

1 bag M&Ms

Start by preheating oven to 300°F

1. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together - set aside

2. Mix softened butter and both sugars, then add in eggs and vanilla with mixer

3. Add in flour mixture and stir

4. Add in chocolate chips and M&Ms

5. Put all the batter in the pan and press into a circle

6. Bake on center rack for 32-35 minutes

Mmm cookie cake goodness!

Smore cookie heaven

I've been going on baking kicks over the holidays, so once I found this recipe I just had to try it! Not only do these ridiculously sweet cookies look good, but they are DELICIOUS. Surprisingly they are super easy to make!

What you need:

2/3 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup (white) sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup mini marshmallows, plus 1/4 cup for adding on top (as directed below)

2 regular sized Hershey bars, each piece printed with "Hershey" cut in half

2 packages graham crackers- broken into squares (1/2 of a full graham cracker sheet)

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 375*F

* Break graham crackers in half, so they are squares.  Lay crackers next to each other, in a single layer on a baking sheet (the size of your baking sheet will determine exactly how many crackers you need).

* Bake graham crackers in pre-heated oven for 4 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

* Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of an electric mixer.

* Add egg and vanilla.

* In a separate bowl stir flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Then add to butter mixture and mix until just combined. 

* Fold in chocolate chips and 1 cup marshmallows.

* Use a large cookie scoop to scoop dough onto graham crackers (on baking sheet). 

* Bake for 5 minutes.  Then remove pan from oven and press about 2 pieces of chocolate and 2-3 marshmallows into each cookie. 

* Bake for 5-7 minutes more. 

* Cool completely, then cut cookies into squares (where the graham crackers meet).