The Challenge

It's Friday!
And Friday the 13th might I add!  Any one out there superstitious?  I am not sure I am!

I am just a bit excited that the last day of the work week is here!

It is time again to discuss "The Challenge" as I have decided to call this little project of cooking through my pin board!  If you missed the post discussing how I am challenging myself to cook through my entire pinterest food board then Click Here!

Anyways there are going to be a few changes.  Monday's are going to be the days I introduce you to the 5 recipes I will be attempting to make that week!  You see I have already made three recipes this week off of my pin board, and you know what?  They were all a hit.  I think my parents are enjoying this challenge as much as I am.  My mom is loving all the new recipes she is acquiring!  Who doesn't love recipes that are tasty and most importantly healthy? 

So this lovely Friday I will show you the three stellar recipes  I have already tried (and yes they are all keepers)! and introduce you to the two that I will be completing over the weekend.  Because lets be honest, Minnesota is now cold and has lots of snow... which means this girl doesn't want to venture outside.  So why not cook!

So here they are your Friday 5!

The first dish of the week was this amazing quiche from Cooking Light.
Spinach, Caramelized Onions, and Feta Quiche!

  I subbed in Mozzarella cheese for most of the feta, since my dad is not a feta fan!  Hands down one of the best quiches I have had.This quiche was so good in fact that the entire dinner my dad was raving about it.  Not to mention after we got done with dinner, there was just 2 pieces left!  Now that my friends is a winner of a dish!  The caramelized onions add a punch of flavor, and the use of a store bought crust add to the simplicity (and short ingredient list).  I am thinking this quiche would make a great addition to any brunch, or eat it for a light dinner (served up with a big leafy green salad).  

Numero 2

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

Another mouth watering recipe from Skinny Taste.  And who doesn't love a meal that takes 5 minutes to prep.  The chicken was so tender that it literally fell apart as I was shredding it!  My dad actually assembled everything in the crock pot for me!  And mid day I got a text at work saying that dinner smelled amazing, well guess what it tasted pretty amazing to!  I am sending this recipe to my little sister!  The perfect meal for a college student if you ask me.  This recipe makes 8 servings, so you will have lots of leftovers!

3. The weather turned frightful here in Minnesota!  I am shaking in my boots it is so cold!  See what I looked like going to work here.  Oops sorry side not, lets get back on track.  When my mom and I were planning the meals this week we knew Thursday was going to be a blustery cold day, so soup it was!  And what better way to warm up then with this protein packed Red Lentil Chickpea and Tomato Soup with Smoked Paprika.  Brought to you by Kalyn's Kitchen!

Yes this soup really was good, and really what I was craving on a cold Minnesota night!  Served along side some fresh Honey Whole Wheat Great Harvest Bread (love that stuff)!  Will I be making this again, probably!
My friends that is 3 successful dinners from the Pin Board!  But we still have to more spots to fill in our Friday five!  So let me present to you #4!

4. Ginger Lemon Quick Bread, from The Girl Who Bakes!

Source: girlwhobakes.blogspot.com via Hilliary @ Happily Ever Healthy on Pinterest

Since making Peas and Thank You's Banana Bread, and then Eat Live Runs Almond Applesauce bread (both amazing by the way) I have realized that I love having a fresh batch of yummy bread.  Quick breads with a light smear of peanut butter are my perfect after dinner treat!  So this weekend I am going to be giving this bread a try!
But You will just have to come back and read on Monday to see how this recipe faired in the Wolfe household!

And last but not least on your Friday 5...

Homemade LaraBars

Source: enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com via Hilliary @ Happily Ever Healthy on Pinterest

Because I need to shake up my mid afternoon snacks a bit! Who knows maybe they will be better then the original!!

What recipes have you enjoyed recently?

Spa Day and It's Ok Thursday

Well we made it to Thursday!  Finally!  Does anyone else feel like this week is dragging along at a snail like pace?
Just one little thing I want to share with you all before I jump into my second It's Ok Thursday post!

My co-worker sent me this great recipe for a Homemade Citrus Scrub, and I wanted to share it with you all.  Because who doesn't want to use a scrub that smells as refreshing as citrus.  Perfect to brighten up a dreary winter day!

What you will need:
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Sea Salt
1-2 Slices of Lemon
1-2 slices of Orange

How you make it;
1. Put the oil and salt in a bowl or blender
2. Chop up the orange and lemon slice and put them in the bowl or blender as well. (If using a bowl chop as finally as you can)!
3-Blend everything together and put in a container!  And that's it!
So simple!

Would make a great homemade gift if put in cute little jars like this...

Source: maybematilda.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Here are some other great homemade scrubs that are floating about in the blog world!
Now I am ready for a Spa Day!
Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub
Lavender Sugar Scrub-And Everything Nice
A Year of Sugar Scrubs
On Maybe Matilda's blog she shows you how to make the 3 scrubs above and the cute little jars!
Now onto It's Ok Thursday!
Linking up with Neely of A Complete Waste of Makeup and Amber of Brunch with Amber!




Its Ok That...
...I wish I could re-wear my outfit from yesterday with my new boots!
The boots I ordered about a week ago!

...I wish the snow we are getting now in Minnesota would have come about 3 weeks ago!  Christmas just wasn't the same since there was no snow!

...I wore about a million layers into work today!  It is cold outside!
...I may have looked like this because of the said layers!

Ok maybe not that bad!
Well thats all I have for you today folks, but I want to leave you with this!  Because we could all use a little chuckle to get us through the day!

Source: muddlingthruthegrays.tumblr.com via Hilliary @ Happily Ever Healthy on Pinterest

Guest Posting at Miss Dixie

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today I am over at Miss Dixie guest posting for the lovely Katie while she is away in Atlanta! I am sharing a delightful brunch recipe, one that is sure to show that special someone just how much you truly care! A perfect wow factor brunch for Valentines Day (yes it is slowly creeping up on us)!

Head on over and check it out!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Thankful Tuesday

As I was sitting at work yesterday I realized something.  I don't spend enough time being thankful for all the wonderful things in my life.  I find myself sometimes focusing on where I wish my life was at, and forget to count all my blessings.  So today I am thankful.  I am thankful for the support of my family, I am thankful for Mark and many amazing friends, I am thankful for a job and oppertunities that have brought my life to where it is today, I am thankful for the hope of tomorrow, and I am thankful for all of you!  

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Hilliary @ Happily Ever Healthy on Pinterest

What are you thankful for today?

A Little Follow Up

Today I wanted to take a little time to do a follow up to my Friday Post!  I talked  emailed my idea to a few other bloggers last Friday about cooking my way through through my food pin board.  And the idea just kept popping up in the back of my mind all weekend!  My mind would go back and forth from Julie and Julia to the millions (ok not millions) of recipes that are on my pin board.  Hey it is kind of like a virtual cook book! So this little thought of mine turned into a full fledged idea.  And as I tried not one but three new recipes this week from my pin board I thought to myself hey I can do this!

However this little task of mine is going to take a bit of time!  I mean there are 1100 pins on there (and yes I deleted some because they were duplicates or I already made them)! But will it be fun? Heck yes, whats not to love about trying new healthy recipes (and er maybe some not so healthy ones, a girl has to have cupcake every now and then)!

So here is my game plan (or cooking plan?)!
Each Friday I am going to do a Friday Five and feature 5 recipes I would like to try out that upcoming week.  If I only have time to make one new recipe that is fine, I won't fret.  Because this is meant to be a fun project, and a way for me to try new recipes!  I have already created a new pin board where the recipes will be pinned after I try them.  But here is the kicker, not every recipe will make it onto said board.  As I go about cooking my way through my pin board I am only going to keep those recipes I absolutely loved, you know the ones I can see myself making over and over again.  The others will be discarded.  The hope is to eliminate the black hole of recipes, and to end up with a brand new spankin food board with recipes that I literally drooled over!

So lets kick of this little challenge of mine with the three recipes I have tried so far!
They are... 

The Detox Salad from Oh She Glows.
 I switched in cranberries and cherries for the currents and raisins!

This might be a go to salad for my lunch box!

Trader Joe's Cilantro Dressing adds a great flavor punch to the salad 

(seriously want to attempt making my own)!

Saturday morning while still in my PJ's I whipped up this,

Eat Live Runs Almond Apple Sauce bread.  Pretty delicious if you ask me. As I was mixing the batter however I came to the realization that I had no slivered almonds!  Ooops!  I left them out, but sprinkled a praline pecan granola on top of the bread!
and last but not least I made the Clean Eating Spanakopita Casserole! However mine did not look out as pretty as this!

Oh and lets just say that  phyllo dough and I are not the best of friends!  But the dish turned out tasty (there are a few tweaks I would like to make to it!

Source: cleaneatingmag.com via Hilliary @ Happily Ever Healthy on Pinterest

So there you have it folks my little challenge is underway (this could be one heck of an adventure).  And while I will try and stay true to the recipe you all know I like to add my little quirks as I go!
To check out my pin board click here!


And PS I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who follows my blog and for your daily comments, you guys really do make my day!  

11 Things

The Lovely Mandy of Orange Autumn  tagged me the other day in her post 11 things about me!  These posts are so much fun to do, and I am so happy she picked me to be apart of the 11 things about me!  

So what are the rules...

1-Each Person must post 11 things about them on their blog. 

2-Answer the questions the tagger set up for you and come up with 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer!

3-Choose the 11 people you are going to tag, and tag them on this post 

4-And finally make sure you let them know you tagged them!

Have fun!

Remember:

No tag backs!

Here are 11 things about me!

Friday 5-Recipe Edition

Yesterday I was looking at the million recipes I have pinned on my pinterest board.  And I came to this realization, there are 1,000+  recipes pinned their and I have maybe tried 10 (and that could be an exaggeration)!  My pinterset board is becoming my new black hole of recipes, and I am not sure I am ok with this!

So for my Friday 5 I though I would share 5 recipes I would like to attempt to make in the next week!  

1- I don't know if any of you have tried Trader Joe's Cookie Butter yet, but if you haven't then you need to!  You need to run to your nearest Trader Joe's and pick this stuff up.  Cookie Butter is like a sweet peanut butter like spread that literally taste like a gingerbread cookie!  No Joke!  And then when you are completely addicted to the stuff like I am you can make your own using this recipe!!

Source: foodiefiasco.com via Hilliary on Pinterest

Homemade Cooke Butter Brought to you by Foodie Fiasco!

2- I recently made Pea's and Thank You's Banana Bread (seriously love this cookbook, I highly recommend it), and it was nothing short of amazing.  I mean you get to put almond butter (or peanut butter in my case, no almond butter in the pantry) into the bread!!  Ever since I made this glorious loaf of banana bread Tuesday I have had the desire to bake!  Then I came across this recipe from Eat Live Run 

Source: eatliverun.com via Hilliary on Pinterest

Almond Apple Sauce Bread!  Looks Delicious!

3- I am dying to make this delicious salad!  Broccoli and Cauliflower two of my favorite recipes.  I am not sure why I have not made this Detox Salad from Oh She Glows sooner!

Source: ohsheglows.com via Hilliary on Pinterest

I had originally bookmarked the recipe when Angela first blogged about it (Pinterest wasn't around).  This would be a great salad to take to work for lunch, I am a all about brown bagging my lunch, or in my case packing my Vera!

4- I need the perfect morning to whip these puppies up!

Source: howsweeteats.com via Hilliary on Pinterest

Whats not to love about a lazy Saturday with Banana Pancakes!  I have been drooling over this recipe from How Sweet It Is for far to long now!  Maybe this stack of pancakes will fill the craving I have been having for Golden Nugget Banana Pancakes!
And number 5 (although this list could go on and on and on)!

Spanikopita Casserole From Clean Eating Magazine

Source: cleaneatingmag.com via Hilliary on Pinterest

Because I could seriously eat the whole box of Trader Joe's Spanikopita, yes it is that good!
Maybe a New Years goal of mine should have been to cook my way through my pinterest board one recipe at the time. It could be like Julie and Julia!  Although I am not sure there would ever be an end to that little goal since I pin new recipes almost daily!
Is there a recipe you have pinned that you are dying to make?  Share it with me!
Happy Friday Everyone!

Source: thekitchn.com via Hilliary on Pinterest