One Full Weekend - And the Pin Challenge

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Did you all have a lovely weekend?

Here are a few highlights from the weekend. 

Drinks at a local restaurant across from my apartment; The Butcher and the Boar.

Check out the pork chop my friend Brendan order!

Derek and I are taking my sister there for dinner on Friday! 

A Birthday celebration on Lake Minnetonka for my lovely friend Britt!

Always good to see old friends! 

A delicious brunch with Derek's family sunday morning before church (I seriously love an early Sunday Brunch before church)!

Keys Cafe has some of the best Cinnamon Bread!

And Finally a lovely Baby Shower for Derek's sister Sunday afternoon1

It was a full weekend, but a fun weekend! 

And now I believe I owe you some new recipes for this week! 

Let check them out! 

I have had this chicken marinading all night!
Lime Honey Crusted Chicken from The Enchanted Cook 

Source: foodgawker.com via Dawn on Pinterest

I cannot wait to serve this up with some roasted vegetables (baby potatoes anyone)

And since the evenings have been getting cool in Minnesota, I thought I would make a big pot of this vegetarian chilli!

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Three bean vegetarian chili to be exact!

Are your evenings starting to get cool where you live?

Are you ready for fall to be here?  I know I am, I am jsut ready for the new wardrobe!

Friday Fancies - The Living Room Addition

TGIF! 

I am so happy that the weekend is here!  

I am ready for some rest and relaxation! 

My weekend plans include:

Enjoying the weather on a roof top!

(The View from Stella's rooftop)!

Perferably with a glass of wine!

Spending some quality time with some good friends!

Hopefully checking out the Mill City Farmers Market, one of the biggest ones in Minneapolis.

And Derek's sisters baby shower!

I am so excited, she is having Twins! 

Now I have seriously been thinking about buying a couch, and decorating my living room. 

When I first moved in I told myself I was not going to rush into buying any furniture for my apartment, and that what i had would work! But now that I feel like I am settled in, and my apartment feels like home I am starting to get the itch to furniture shop!  And furniture shopping is one of those things that scares me, because I want to be 100% sure I love what im buying ( I don't want to hate it in a month)!

So lets take a look at a few couches that have caught my eye, along with some living room decorations for this edition of Friday Fancies!

Let me know what you think, I need some input here!

1-Love this style!

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And I really like the color!

2 - I love the sleek look of this one...

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3- This couch is perfect for my small space!

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I am really loving sectionals, and light colors!

4- I'm thinking one of these tables is in order!

time to get crafty, I love the look of these palette tables!

5- And for a little splash of color I am thinking something along these lines: 

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Love the Marimekko Print that Crate And Barrel has!
I like this one too!

What do you think? Does anyone else worry about big purchases?

Happy Friday Everyone!

Thursday's Sweet Treat - Marshmallow Bars

I figured since it is Thursday we could all use a sweet treat to get us through the rest of the week!  I mean we made it to Thursday, the weekend is in site and who doesn't love a little something sweet?  So here is that sweet treat I teased you all with on Tuesday!

Let me introduce you to Marshmallow bars!

One of Derek's favorites!

 I first had Marshmallow Bars a few weeks ago while down in Whalan, for Derek's family vacation.  And let me just say, it is hard to eat just one of these suckers (seriously, they are that addicting)!

The combination of peanut butter and chocolate is simply amazing, I mean in my book there is no better food combination!   Derek's mom sent us the recipes: all you need is 5 simple ingredients, and a microwave!  Shall we get started?

Marshmallow Bars:

Ingredients:

1 and a half Bags of Mini Marshmallows

1 and a half Bags of  Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 Sticks of Butter

3/4 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 - 9x13 Pan.

First grease your pan so that nothing sticks when you cut your bars!

Now pour your marshmallows into the bottom of your greased pan, making sure the the entire bottom of the pan is covered.  It should look something like this!

In a large mixing bowl place your semi sweet chocolate chips, butter, and peanut butter.

Melt your ingredients in the microwave until everything is melted (about 3-5 min, check periodically), stir well to combine.

Pour your chocolate peanut butter mixture over the marshmallows making sure that all the marshmallows are equally covered!

What I think is the best part of baking...

Now place in the fridge until your chocolate has hardened (now you can eat the.  If you want to enjoy these bars faster stick them in the freezer!

Enjoy!

 I dare you to try and eat just one of these!

From the Black Hole of Recipes

Hello Lovlies! 

Did we all survive Monday?  I felt like I was dragging a bit yesterday, maybe it was because of my busy weekend! 

This week for my Pin Challenges I decided to go back to the archives and dig up some Pin recipes I made a while back, I don't want those amazing recipes to get lost in the black hole! 

But before we get into those I thought we could recap last weeks recipes! 

I already told you how amazing these Quinoa Black Bean Burgers were! 

Seriously, you have to make them!  I ate them on a bun, wrapped them in a tortilla and even topped a salad with these tasty burgers!  I subbed in a chilly garlic sauce for the mustard!  

But I am not kidding, you need to make these tonight! 

And secondly these delicious Chickpea Tacos! 

Source: cadryskitchen.com via Hilliary @ Brunch and Cupcakes on Pinterest

(sorry my picture was not very good)!!!

Also great wrapped in a tortilla or even on chips or as a salad topper! 

Delicious! 

But now lets take a look at this weeks recipes, yes we are going back to the achieve of recipes! 

Enjoy! 

My favorite go to dinner, bake potatoes! 

Not just any baked potatoes black bean stuffed baked potatoes! 

Source: myrecipes.com via Hilliary @ Brunch and Cupcakes on Pinterest

I remember loving all the flavor combinations in this meal! 

And who could forget the Sweet and Sticky Chicken! 

Source: allrecipes.com via Hilliary @ Brunch and Cupcakes on Pinterest

I am going to serve this with some brown rice, and roasted broccoli!  

Yum!

And stay tuned for a yummy treat that is so easy to make, trust me you will want to make these!

Scenes From the Weekend

You know those weekends when you just go with the flow, and whatever happens, happens. 

Well that is exactly how I feel about this weekend! 

And I had a blast. 

We had a few things planned this weekend, but the days were pretty much ours to do whatever we want! Here are just a few highlights/pictures from the weekend! 

Nothing better then being surprised with beautiful flowers! 

A delicious Tortellini Salad, from Two Peas and Their Pod: 

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Seriously make this salad (makes great leftovers)! 

I made it for a BBQ on Saturday night.  Grilling, friends and a bon fire; no better way to spend a Saturday night.  And yes the evening was made complete with S'mores!!

To die for French Toast from the Edina Grill! 

There is nothing I love better then an early Sunday Morning Brunch before church!

The iconic Cherry on the Spoon, at the Walker Art Center Garden. 

And a few more pictures from our walk around downtown, and a local Art Fair! 

and of course just some of us goofing around! 

What did you do this weekend?

Weekly Challenge

I realized that I have been slacking on my Pin Challenge the past few weeks! 

Last week I shared the results for my Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes, and the Mediterranean Crunch Salad! 

This week I have two new tasty recipes for you! 

Since summer makes me think of grilling/cookouts I decided I wanted to try my hand at a vegetarian burger! 

May I present to you the Quinoa Black Bean Burger!

Source: greatist.com via Hilliary @ Brunch and Cupcakes on Pinterest

I think these are going to be delicious! 

And since I am scared to death of open fire, I will be grilling these on my mini George Foreman! 

Yes, that is my kind of grilling! 

I am also going to try these Chickepea Taco's!

Source: cadryskitchen.com via Hilliary @ Brunch and Cupcakes on Pinterest

I have made a number of Vegetarian mexican dishes, but I want to give these a go and see how I like them! 

I am hoping these recipes will get good reviews from my tast tester! 

Will see!

And while we are on the topic of recipes, I want to share with you a recipe/smoothie I have been loving this week!  

The Glowing Green Smoothie from Kimberly Snyder! 

I just started reading her book "The Beauty Detox Diet" and thought I would give this smoothie a go!

And you know what, it is pretty delicious!  So refreshing!

You really ought to try it, I swear you won't taste the spinach!

So there you have it, two meatless meals for your week!

Now tell me, are you a fan of green smoothies?  Or does the color kind of gross you out?

Happy Wednesday! 

My Where Abouts

Happy Tuesday Lovlies! 

I know I have been a bit MIA, but last week got super crazy and work.  And then I was gone all weekend relaxing! 

This past weekend I was down in Whalen Minnesota. 

You may have heard me talk about Whalen before!  Whalen is the little town my family always bikes to, you know the little town that has the amazing pie shop! 

Well the reason I was in Whalen this past weekend was for Derek's family vacation/get together! 

I had a wonderful time.  I got to hang out with some great people, play lots of fun games (we had our own Olympics) eat tons of amazing food (like these some of my favorite bars!) and of course watch we watched hours upon hours of Olympics!  

Have you all been watching the Olympics?

What did you think of the opening ceremony?

I have to say the opening Ceremony this year was not my favorite.  

I did however love the torch at the end... 

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and the fireworks!  

The fireworks for the opening ceremony were spectacular! 

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There are several events I love to watch in the summer Olympics !

I love watching both Mens and Womens Gymnastics!

I really hope... does well! 

And I love watching Sycronized Diving and Platform Diving! 

I seriously wish I could do some of those dives!

What about you?  Any sport you enjoy watching during the Olympics?