Few of My Favorite Things: What's Your Flavor?

"What's your flavor? Tell me what's your flavor?"  Time for the second installment of my "Favorite Things" series. (Here is the first post about my favorite movies). Today I'm talking about my favorite flavors. I have very specific flavors that I love and you can guarantee I will order if one of them is included on a menu. I'm also posting a link for a recipe including each flavor!

1. Almond: Almond extract, almond butter, almond milk, actual almonds, I love it all. A few local coffee shops have almond syrup and almond milk for coffee drinks and it makes for the best latte. I'm just waiting for Starbucks to jump on board. I was first introduced to almond extract when I started making my sugar cookies. You use the extract in the icing and I promise it's the flavor that sends them over the edge. I add almond extract in addition to vanilla to almost everything. (It's really good in granola, especially when almonds are in the mix)

Recipe: I just discovered the food blog The View from Great Island.  I spent about an hour going through her archives and now these white chocolate almond butter bars are high on my baking list. I'm also a lover of white chocolate.

2. Coffee/Espresso: Coffee is magical by itself, but I love coffee flavored things. I used to be able to finish a pint of coffee Haagen Dazs ice cream as an after school snack. Coffee or mocha flavored cupcakes are usually my go to and I love adding coffee to any chocolate recipe.

Recipe: These coffee bacon sandwiches, I can't even. My sister and I made them a few years ago and I can't believe we haven't made them since. They are the most interesting amazing thing in the world. Such a good way to incorporate coffee.

3. Vanilla: A skinny vanilla latte is always a go to order if I can't decide what to get. And when using vanilla extract I always double or triple the amount the recipe calls for. Vanilla scented candles, vanilla body lotion, mmmm I love it! 

Recipe: Been dying to try chia seed pudding and this one uses almond milk and almond extract.

4. Ginger: This is a new favorite, but I feel like it hasn't been used much until recently. I love putting fresh ginger in my smoothies and ginger cookies have always been wonderful. I recently had a peach and ginger scone that was insanely good.

Recipe: Shameless plug for my ginger cookies!

5. Lemon: Lemon squares, lemon cupcakes, lemon chicken etc. Once the weather gets warm I like lemon in all forms! I've recently been having the largest craving for lemon squares.

Recipe: My good friend pinned this recipe for skinny lemon bars that seem just perfect enough to feed my craving!

So what's your favorite flavor? This post inspired me to make a board dedicated to my 5 favorite flavors. Maybe one of them is yours too!

p.s. Pumpkin is also a favorite flavor, I'm just trying to stay seasonal! Pumpkin has it's own Pinterest board dedicated all to itself.

xo annie

Rodeo, Ranch and Recipes

Yesterday I shared a few bites about my weekend, but it was such a good couple of days away I have to share more! This past weekend I let my inner cowgirl come out. I went to the rodeo, a country concert and a ranch. Just call me the Pioneer Woman! A bunch of my good friends and I spent the weekend down south in Fort Worth. The city is so fun and I fall in love every time I visit. Luckily one of my best friends is from "The Fort," so I have excuses to take trips there.

The rodeo was Friday night. The fact that we had our hair done and make-up on was enough to make us stand out amongst most of the crowd. There were trick riders, barrel races, bull riding etc. 

After the rodeo we went to Billy Bob's Texas. The country bar calls itself "the world's largest honkey tonk." My friend's mom was so excited to show us one of her favorite singers. Sadly, it was his last concert because he is retiring from the music life. Josh Weathers put on quite a last show. I danced all night to songs I didn't know as well as some of his amazing covers like " I Will Always Love You."

After a "big night in the city" we headed 90 miles outside Fort Worth to my friend's ranch house. We did nothing but eat (A LOT), play games and sit by the fire. Apparently the rule is there is "no diet at the ranch," so we behaved the rules.

This brings me to the recipe portion of this post. My friend's mom and I love talking recipes and cooking when we are together. She shared an awesome orzo chicken salad and this layered hummus dip with me this summer. Today I'm sharing a recipe for Avocado Verde Dip and Onion Soufflé. The avocado dip could probably qualify as healthy, as for the onion soufflé, not so much. It's so dang good though you just can't think about it.

First up the avocado verde dip.

Avocado Verde Dip

Ingredients:
2 avocados
16 oz store bought verde salsa (we used this brand)
a bunch of cilantro
juice from 1 lime
1 garlic clove

Directions:
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips or as a topping on tacos or enchiladas. 

Onion Soufflé

Ingredients:
3 packages cream cheese
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 cups parmesan cheese
1 bag frozen onions, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:
Combine all ingredients then transfer to a pie dish. Bake at 400 degrees until the top begins to brown. This can be made ahead and put in the fridge until it's time to bake.  Serve with Triscuits! 

All of this was followed by our enchilada dinner. Mini chocolate chip cookies, ginger snaps, coconut bon bons and chocolate toffee were passed around for dessert. Like I said, there is no diet at the ranch.

After our dip frenzy some barre exercises were a must. It was hilarious doing push-pulls around the 2 ft. x 2 ft. countertop.

Here's to wishing it was still the weekend!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Last week was a small bite, but I'm making up for it a big bite this week! I have lots of pictures to take you back. During the week I stayed busy with school and activities, then headed south bound to Fort Worth for the weekend. A winter storm kept us from getting home by car, so we opted for the train to get back to snowy covered Norman. I'm now laying in bed hoping the second round of expected storms cancels school and my test this week. 

Recap: I got in the Valentines Spirit, had a coffee date with one of my dearest friends, my long lost OSU best friend made a surprise visit, went to my first rodeo, danced the night away at a country concert, snuggled by the fire at my friend's ranch house, almost got snowed in, rode the train and missed the whole super bowl. It was a stocked week/weekend. 

-My "little sister" was a big help with making pom pons for the DIY I posted last week.

-DIY Vday pom pon garland. Click here if you missed it.

-I love a good coffee date especially when the company and coffee are equally as good. My order was an almond milk latte!

-Thursday turned into one of the best days of the week when one of my best friends randomly came down to Norman. We dropped everything so that we could hang out all afternoon. 

-Friday a bunch of us headed down to the Fort Worth Rodeo. To say we stood out a little is an understatement, but we still played along. 

-We continued the country night by dancing and singing along with a concert by Josh Weathers at Billy Bob's. 

-A stop at Yogi's the next mooring before heading to my friend's ranch house. I ordered the greek omelet. Egg whites, feta, tomatoes and spinach!

-I posted about this card last week, then saw it in person at Urban Outfitters. It's just hysterical and so perfect. 

-Saturday night we arrived at the ranch. We wore camo,  played catch phrase and ate lots of food. Here you can see the aftermath of our dip frenzy.

-A snow storm blew into Southern Oklahoma leaving us stranded in Texas. I finally got to try out a Pure Barre class while we waited for our alternate mode of transportation, the train.

We finally made it back from a memorable few days last night. Tomorrow I'll be sharing more about my weekend so make sure and check back. For now I'm trying to stay warm inside while the streets are covered in snow outside.

xo annie

DIY Valentine Garland

It's a return of the yarn pom pons. Instead of Christmas, I'm incorporating them into my Valentine's Day decorating. Today I have a little DIY for pom pon garland!

I'm a big Valentine's Day fan. I'm not talking about the sappy romantic Valentine's Day, I like the sweet lovable Valentine's Day that means putting little notes in your friends mailboxes in the 3rd grade, wearing pink and red all day and getting chocolates from your daddy.

To make the garland all you need is yarn and a pair of scissors.

Start by wrapping the yarn around two fingers. Wrap around about 50 times. This will give you the perfect little pom pon.

Slip the wrapping off your fingers and cut a little piece of yarn to tie around horizontally.

Make sure you keep a little tail so your pom pons can be tied onto the garland later.

Now you have cutie little pom pons! Next, simply tie them onto a long piece of white yarn and cut off the tails to create your garland.

xo annie

Tuesday Pick Me Up

I told myself 6 a.m. yoga would be a good idea last night, but I knew it wouldn't really happen. My body decided to naturally wake up at 5:15 and there seemed to be no other choice but to go. Tuesdays are usually a pretty good day. They aren't Monday, and they aren't hump day, but for me they are busyyyyy. Now that I've been awake for near 3 hours I'm thinking it's going to be okay. To keep the day along I have some links for a little Tuesday treat!

Queen B just being cool. Beyoncé makes Tuesdays a little better.

What food represents you? This food quiz will tell ya. I'm a sandwich which I don't really think is accurate, but take it and let me know what it says about you!

Blue, Blue and more Blue. Blue is popping up everywhere and I don't mind.

The Sugar Diet...now that's something I can get into.

A Life Size sequel. Every little girl's dream who grew up in the 90's. Fancy fast food. This guy created a blog taking a fast food meal and using only the ingredients from the meal to recreate it into fancy food.

A free online video of my favorite workout. It only takes 10 minutes! Awkward dating card. For all you in betweeners who don't know what to do with Valentine's day coming up.

Happy Tuesday!

Annie