Weekend Slowdown

Happy Easter to those who celebrate! Eat lots of candy guilt-free today!

Lots of people on Bradley's campus went home for the holiday weekend, so it has seemed like a very slow, chill weekend to me. Yesterday with not much to do, I decided to tackle not one.. not two.. but THREE Pinterest recipes that I've been sitting on for a while. 

I don't think I've mentioned this before on here, but I don't eat red meat. Over the last 2 years I've removed red meat from my diet completely. I never really liked it to begin with, so I've just become more conscious of what I prepare. It's super easy to replace most red meat with leaner white meat and this spicy chicken burger is just one example! 

The recipe is incredibly easy to follow and I already had almost everything I needed for it in my pantry. I decided to halve the recipe, since I was only cooking for 2. I got 4 burgers out of the recipe and they turned out really delicious! I hate the texture of pineapple, so I went without that part of the recipe, but I can imagine if you love pineapple you'll love these burgers with it!

As a side, these no-fry fries really got the job done. They were delicious and SO easy to make! For me, fries are one of those foods that just makes me feel guilty as soon as I eat them. There are definitely other foods that are healthier, but I had these without feeling bad about it, since I knew exactly what had gone into them- which wasn't much!

After making the alfredo sauce from my last post with Greek yogurt, I'm starting to try to find conversions and everyday recipes to use Greek yogurt in. You can't even taste the difference and making it a habit can make dishes a little better for you. I forgot to take a picture of this one, but this altered version of a boxed cake tastes BETTER with Greek yogurt. Instead of following the directions on the box, you just add the cake mix with a cup of vanilla Greek yogurt and a cup of water.

It's THAT easy! And it turned out delicious. One of my roommates had it for breakfast this morning, so I'd call that a testimonial to how Greek yogurt can be your best friend. 

On a completely unrelated note, I'm sitting in the library working on this, and I just downloaded the new OneRepublic album Native. They've been one of my favorite bands for years and I really recommend this one, so far. 

Check it out!

Get out and enjoy this nice weather before we have to get back to the reality of the work week tomorrow! 

Post Spring break blues..

We have officially been back from Spring break for 3 days now and it's safe to say that I'm ready to go back to Florida. The weather was gorgeous, the group I was with was a blast, and at this point anywhere is better than school.

Panama City Beach was beautiful and was by far the most memorable Spring break I've had in college.

This was the view from our hotel room. What's not to like?!

BUT as we all know, time demands that we return to all of our responsibilities and for me that includes trying to figure out what to make myself to eat so that I'm not living off of cereal.

I went grocery shopping yesterday and went with the goal of getting things for a few different recipes.

This broccoli chicken alfredo was pretty good! Definitely worth having again. My sauce didn't thicken quite as much as I expected it to, but once you add the pasta to the mix you can't even tell the difference.

FYI: make sure you read the Greek yogurt label and be sure you get plain, not vanilla. :P

I also was looking to make something that I could snack on between meals. I pinned these strawberry chocolate chip muffins awhile back and I thought I'd try them out this week. They're delicious!

These don't look as fancy as the ones in the pictures on the blog, but they're still really good. And they won't break the calorie bank! At 140 calories they're a guilt-free snack! I had one for breakfast with a banana this morning.

Doing a little cooking helped with the winter blues that we've still got going on here in Illinois, have you tried any new recipes lately that have been a hit?!

Happy Hump Day! :)

Where in the World?

I think I'm starting to go stir crazy.

Lately, I've been itching to travel somewhere new. I realize that there's school, graduation, and ya know.. money that are all stopping me from being able to pick up and leave. That doesn't mean that I can't plan, though!

In winter of 2008 I visited Italy, which is absolutely breathtaking.

Everything is ancient there. It was really weird to realize how young the United States compared to the rest of the world.

In the summer of 2012, I travelled to Spain.

Spain had a much different beauty than Italy. I'm glad I got to be outdoors so much when I was here.

The more I experience other countries, the more I want to see. So, I've just had some ideas in mind whenever the opportunity comes up again for me to travel.

I've always been fascinated by the UK. They speak the same language as we do, but lead such different lifestyles that I can't help but want to experience it. 

The United Kingdom is made up of 4 different countries: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. All places I would fly to at the drop of a hat. I've never been to another country that had English as a first language, so I think that my experiences in other places would work to my benefit as far as getting around. 

My dream would be to spend a month in the UK, spending enough time in each place to feed my appetite, but I'll settle for 2 weeks split between them all!

London

Scotland

Ireland

Hopefully this dream becomes a reality! I'd like to go before starting a family, so let's hope this job search works out for me! If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Where are your favorite places in the world?

Have a great day!

Soaking up some Vitamin D!

This week has been so crazy! I've had multiple job and internship interviews and midterms all week, so there's nothing I'm looking forward to more than heading South for Florida on Friday! It seems like Spring Break has snuck up on me this semester, so I have yet to get many of my travel necessities like shampoo and such.

One thing that I have already invested in is some sun screen. My skin is naturally incredibly pale and sensitive to the sun, which kind of comes with the eczema that I talked about in an earlier post. When I went to Spain in June, I got sun poisoning because we were so much closer to the sun than America is, so I've learned the hard way what a lack of sunscreen can do! Here are some tips for all of you beach-goers to take advantage of!

The rules that I live by when it comes to my skin and the sun is that more is more. You can never have too much sunscreen. Most bottles recommend that you re-apply your sunscreen every 2 hours, and it's important to follow this because every time you re-apply, you're missing spots. Even if you put your sunblock on in the morning before you go to the beach and once later in the afternoon, you're exposing the places on your skin that you missed to dangerous rays. I always have a friend get my back and shoulders to make sure I'm getting coverage everywhere.

Another rule that I generally follow is that a high SPF really does make the difference. I've heard that after SPF 50 or 60 the strength doesn't really change, they're just trying to market different kinds to us pale people. But, an SPF 50 is going to do you much better than SPF 15 if you tend to burn. My mom always used Water Babies by Coppertone on us when we were kids and I still use it to this day. 

What's better than sunblock that's meant for a baby's precious skin?! 

I use SPF 50 and it works for me. What's great about Coppertone is that they make so many different products in this line. There's one that looks like a glue-stick for applying to your face and spray bottles that are waterproof for kids that don't sit still long enough to let you rub it in and let it dry.

I found some great articles with helpful advice on how to take care of your skin on the beach.

This one  has useful tips and facts about how dangerous the sun is when you're on the beach and this article provides very insightful ways to take care of your body when you come home from the beach. #5 is my favorite. There's nothing worse than chapped lips after getting some serious sun time!

Only 2 more days until Spring Break! Hang in there, everyone!

There's no place like home..

I'm going to be in Florida for spring break this year, so this past weekend I went back home to get away from the Bradley bubble for a few days. 

It just so happens that this was also the weekend of the annual Irish Fest in Manhattan. Because so many immigrants came to Manhattan from Ireland and the heritage has stuck since then, there's a celebration every year with family-friendly events for kids, a parade chock full of bagpipes, and adult festivities at night. I think the history is pretty cool, but then again it's my hometown, so I may be a little biased.

This was the first year since I've been 21 that I was home for the event, so I was excited to experience the beer tents and authentic, live music.

I went with my mom and our family friends on Friday night to hear who the Grand Marshall of the parade would be. No judging, please. There really is a grand marshall.

After I came back on Sunday afternoon, all I wanted was another warm, cooked meal. My mom sent me back with leftovers, but I was saving them for a day when I had to eat dinner at work.

So, here's what I made for dinner on Sunday night! These green beans are delicious, super easy, and good for you! I've made them a few times since I found the recipe and haven't changed a thing on it. 

The chicken was absolutely delicious. My boyfriend and I had gone to HyVee that day so I could get groceries, and he mentioned that he wanted to try these Kraft FreshTakes. They're so easy to add to basically any meat and the chicken turned out delicious! The package comes with basic directions on how to add the seasoning to chicken, but it also comes with several other non-traditional recipes. On the inside of the one we bought, there was a recipe for some baked mac-n-cheese! The packages are in the dairy aisle, so I really recommend trying it for dinner sometime soon!

That's it for today! Only 9 days until Spring Break! :)