Bites of My Life

Honey I'm home! Finals are over and I am home for a whole month! This weekend was super relaxing. I baked and slept all Saturday (the perfect day). Last night, my two best friends came over for dinner, one of which I hadn't seen since August! It's so good to be home!

Although it is break, I am working everyday this week. I feel like I should complain, but I love my job and I'm also starting my internship today! 

Before we get started with this week, lets take a look at last week.

-Celebrating finals being over with my favorite people!

-Gingerbread sandwich cookies kicked off the holiday baking. Recipe will be posted tomorrow.

-Dad requested I make breakfast Sunday morning, so baked eggs with tomatoes and spinach were whipped up!

-Reuniting with some great friends from freshman year to celebrate sweet Shelby's 21st!

-I started Scandal three weeks ago and spent most of final's week watching Netflix to catch up in time for the fall finale on Thursday.

-Sunday night dinner. Tri-tip steak, pinto beans and warm corn salad.

I'm excited to get going with this week because oldest sis gets in town on Friday!

xo annie

Open-Faced Winter Sammy

Leftover Thanksgiving turkey and homemade pumpkin butter make this sandwich hard to beat. I got the idea from an apple butter and smoked pastrami sandwichI had pinned a while ago. I threw this guy together for my sister and I last Sunday. We were so burnt out on Thanksgiving leftovers, but my mom was insistent on us finishing them off. My little creative juices started flowing on how I could put a spin on the leftovers.

Kathleen had made the yummiest pumpkin butter the day before (I'm hoping this post pushes Kat to post her recipe). We usually just spread it on toast or dip apples in it, but I decide to use it as the base of this sandwich. I layered on leftover turkey, red onion slices, cheese and a little bit of rosemary for an added wintery touch!

Open-Faced Pumpkin Butter and Turkey Sammy
serves 2

Ingredients:
2 slices of hearty wheat bread
fresh turkey, none of that fake deli meat stuff
pumpkin butter*
red onion slices
a few slices of any white cheese (white cheddar, havarti or gouda would all be good)
sprigs of rosemary (optional)

Directions:
Turn on the broiler of your oven. Toast your bread. Spread on a nice layer of pumpkin butter. Layer on the other components. Put your sandwiches in the oven under the broiler and just keep on an eye on them until the cheese is completely melted. About 2 minutes. Once the cheese is melted finish them off with some fresh cracked black pepper. Serve with a knife and fork.

*Pumpkin butter is super easy to make and there are lots of recipes out on the Internet. If you don't want to make your own pumpkin butter, you can usually find pumpkin or apple spreads at specialty grocery stores. A grainy mustard would also be a a good substitution. 

turkey, cheese, onion and rosemary all layered up

melty, open-faced goodness

This sandwich was so random but so good! Here is a recipe for another one of my favorite open-faced sandwiches!

Annie

Study Snacks

Currently writing this post in the library instead of studying. This still counts as productivity in my book!

I'm a big snack girl. Snack foods are my favorite kind of foods. I put together a list of my favorite snacks, all of which are relatively healthy and perfect for helping you get through those long hours of studying. 

1. Coffee. A study sesh isn't complete without some form of caffeine. My current go to at Starbucks is a grande soy latte. The soy gives it enough flavor without added syrups.

2. Apple slices and almond butter is my #1 favorite snack. Healthy and keeps you full!

3. Homemade granola. This is my favorite recipe. Homemade allows you to control the amount of aded sugars. We always have a container in our pantry at home. I eat it by the handfuls.

4. Kind Bars. I recently discovered these and I'm in love. Their blueberry vanilla & cashew flavor is too good! This is my regular snack at work to tide me over between lunch and dinner.

5. Pistachios. I'm usually an almond girl, but my mom had a huge bag of pistachios in the pantry over Thanksgiving break, and I rediscovered my love for them. They are a more low calorie nut so you can have almost twice the serving size compared to other nuts.

6. Homemade snack mix. This stuff is like crack so if you make it I warn you to portion it out into small snack bag sizes. Last week I made bags of it to pass out to all my friends as a study snack. I'm giving you the recipe because it is just too good! p.s. it makes a ton, so like I said portion it out or give lot's away!

Homemade Snack Mix

yields a huge brown bag full

Ingredients:

1 Box of Wheat Thins

1 Box of Cheez-Its

1 package of pretzels

1 package of oyster crackers

1 package of Quaker oatmeal cereal

Seasoning:

1 package of dry ranch dressing mix

1 cup of vegetable oil

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. lemon pepper

1 tsp. dried dill

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients in a paper grocery sack. Mix the seasoning in a small bowl. Pour the seasoning over the dry ingredients. Roll up the top of the sack and shake until the dry ingredients are completely covered.

Here is another list of some some good and healthy study snacks!

Annie

Bites of My Life

This is my 130 post and 30th "bites" post! It's been 30 weeks of taking a bite out of my life!

I've been trucking along in the library studying for finals. I only have two exams this week, so the light load is making things less stressful. 

Last Thursday an ice/snow/winter mix storm came in leading to class being canceled on Friday. This was the first time I haven't wanted snow day. It's hard to enjoy a day off when everyone is in finals mode and still studying all day at the library. 

{Bites from last week}

-Goodie bags of my favorite homemade snack mix packaged up to hand out as study snacks! (recipe tomorrow)

-A warm cup of coffee and a chocolate chip cookie to get through the afternoon at work

-The real snow outside was too cold, so one of my roommates and I opted for fake snow to play in.

-Second weekend at the pop-ups! The little igloo village was a site to see after it had been blanketed in snow!

I'll finish up with school this Friday then I'll be home for a whole month! I have lots of baking plans and a fun internship lined up. More on that later.

p.s. if you didn't see my "distractions" post last week, it is the perfect study break if you are hard at work during finals week too!

xo annie

Things That Are Distracting Me

I tend to have a problem of getting easily distracted when I try to study. With final exams next week, I have found several things to keep me distracted from studying.

If you sitting in the library right now, first off you aren't studying either because you are reading this post, so second, go ahead and spend some extra time away from the books and read what I'm being distracted by.

-Mashups of the best songs from 2013 by Daniel Kim and DJ Earworm. Some great study music in my opinion.

-What is your true color aura? I'm a pink, what are you?

-17 productive ways to spend 5 minutes. All are better options than 5 minutes of studying.

-The December issue of Matchbook Magazine was released this week!

-11 of the most ridiculous Kardashian Christmas cards.

-Gift guides by The Everygirl (this one, this one and this one), Julia, Liz and Danielle.

-Lastly, Scandal. I started watching last week which was a terrible idea. I'd rather watch Scandal than do anything else. I'm already halfway through season 2.

xo annie