Try this! Chock-Full-of-Veggies Chili

So one night I made this chili for dinner. The recipe was from South Beach Diet. I made some changes to it as I went along, but the end result was so tasty I wanted to write down my version of this delicious chili. And I'm sharing it with you!

Ingredients:

• 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 4 bell peppers (any color), chopped
• 4 ribs celery, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced (or a few spoonfuls of that garlic stuff in a jar)
• 2 TB chili powder
• 2 TB dried oregano
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cans (15 oz each) pinto beans
• 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans
• 2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add bell peppers, celery, and garlic.Cook, stirring, until vegetables begin to soften, about 7 mins. Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes longer.

2. Add beans & tomatoes (with juice). Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until chili is fragrant and slightly thickened, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm and garnish with fresh herbs, if desired. (I garnished mine with some sour cream so don't feel bad about it if you want to do the same.)

Servings: 7 

I wish I'd taken my own picture, but it really doesn't look as awesome as it tastes.

Recipe for Healthy 3-Ingredient Cookies

I am so pooped after today. I tried out a new cookie recipe, made pork chops & cowboy beans, and some lunches for tomorrow. Whew!

So I tried this new cookie recipe because I've seen it around on Pinterest and it looked easy. I suppose the end result will look like this:

Except those chocolate chips look suspiciously like rasins......



Here's the catch about these AMAZING COOKIES--it only needs 3 ingredients!!

Oh my heck!!

Yeah.

So I'll give you the recipe and you can try it out.

You'll need:

• 2 large bananas (I had small bananas so i used 4)
• 1 cup oats
• 1 handful chocolate chips

Oh, and I took lovely pictures of my adventures with these cookies so lucky you! I actually have my own pics for step by step instructions :)

Mash up the bananas in a bowl.

Add the oats & chocolate chips. Mix well.

Spoon out onto cookie sheet. (I recommend greasing the cookie sheet, otherwise they'll stick to that pan like a needy girlfriend.)

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Yay! 15 minutes is plenty of time to clean up your mess you've made so far. Look at all them dishes you dirtied.

Just be careful to not rub off the Sharpie finger mustache you made!!

Darn it...

AACK! Don't forget about the cookies!!!

Remove from oven and let cool.

And voila! Scrumptious cookies. They're definitely banana-y, but you can eat a boat-load without feeling like, way guilty.

Makes like 15 cookies! Om nom.

Cirque du Sunfest

My wonderful university hosted a carnival tonight! Free for students! (Free is AWESOME!) I took some of my nanny children along with me and we had a great time! I just had to post about it right when I got home!!

We bounced and played on the bouncy slide & race course, got our faces painted, ate cotton candy and nachos, and went in the photo booth. 

Girl group shot. How cute are these chicas??

All the kids with some Star Wars characters. Love it.

Here's a shot of my beautiful face with my Potter scar on it. Yeah. I'm awesome.

Here are our photo booth shots after we got our faces painted :) The mimes decided to jump in on the last one. I didn't mind! 

My feet were freezing by the end but it was worth it for the kiddies to have fun! Hope everyone's Friday night was just as awesome as mine :)

Cool Thing of the Day: SMASH JOURNAL

Heya! I'm here today to tell you all about these awesome SMASH journals I discovered! 

It's kind of like a scrapbook but smaller, and really cute. They have quite a few styles out now:

 This is me with my "Pretty Style"journal!

 


The cool thing about these books? First of all, it comes with a pen that also has a glue stick! 

Crazy right??

They also have gorgeous pages that inspire you to write whatever you want! Here's a pic of a random selection of photos I plastered on the first couple of pages to express who I am. 

These examples of mine probably look unfinished to you. Well you're right. One of the things I love most about these things is that I feel like I can add more to any of the pages at a later date. I don't have to finish right away.

You can also buy some awesome accessories for these bad boys. As far as I know, they sell mini writing pads, ribbons, elastic bands to keep your folio together, date stamps, "Secret Pockets," sticky tabs, switch tape, and tons more!

I definitely recommend these journals. I bought my first one at Deseret Book, but of course they are available on Amazon and at other craft & book stores. Check it out and email me your creations! :)

Au revoir!

How To: Curl Your Hair with a Flat-Iron

I only have two hair tools: my hair dryer and my straightener. & I love to curl my hair all the time. 

I don't even own an expensive straightener. I don't need to. My hair is resilient and will work with anything. Yay me!

Since I am lazy and I don't really want to make my own DIY, I decided to show you some DIY's that I approve of for you to look at. :)

Here's one from The Fixation Files, and wikiHow is always a great place to look! The best advice I can give is just experiment. I mean, practice makes perfect, right? I don't even own a curling iron because I'm pretty much a pro with my flat-iron. 

Have fun!

Find of the Day: The Period Store

Let's be honest, for every lady - once a month - we go through the worst headaches, cramps, and hormonal freakouts.

Sometimes it sucks being a lady. Am I right!

So I'm here to save the day with this site I stumbled upon on Pinterest. Bring on the Hallelujah Chorus because this is the best idea in the history of Womanhood.

Before you judge, go to the website: The Period Store. You can order a package for "That Time of the Month" filled with chocolate, comforting stuff, and even pads, tampons, and herbal remedies. Just shipped to you. How awesome is that?? 

Even though I'm a poor college kid and I just have to suffer through the Mother Nature uterus punch, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Byeee!

Random Awesome Things: Ombre Hairstyle

Lots of chicks are into the whole ombre hairstyle, and others are way against it. Personally, I think it's a way cute look, a unique style to our generation and a great way to be hipster. Jk.

But really. There are a few awesome perks to getting an ombre, besides looking sexy fine. For one, it works with any hair color. Unless your hair is like really white. Plus, your roots don't show! This dye job lasts for months.

But I must warn you. There is a way to go wrong here. I will show you.

First off, here is my beautiful hair when I first got it done, about 5 or 6 months ago. Isn't it lovely? It was my first dye job ever, and I figured it was a pretty safe route because I've had threats on my life if I ever dye my ginger hair another color. This was a good medium. Not too extreme, and natural-looking.

My hair has grown out about 4 or 5 inches since I got it done and it still looks good!

Here are some celeb examples of a good ombre:

All of the above are ombre DO's.

Here is an ombre DON'T.

Don't do it. Make sure you balance your color and don't make it too extreme. otherwise it's just awkward.

Hope this helps all you people who are going to hitch onto the ombre fad.

Brooklyn's Tips: How to Listen to Conference

Today, at the Saturday morning Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a new temple was announced to be built in Cedar City, UT! That's where I live! What a great time we live in.
LDS Conference is a wonderful time where we can listen to talks from our prophets to help improve ourselves and change our lives with living scripture.
But let's be honest. Sometimes it's not super easy to listen to it, especially if we love to sleep in a lot or we feel like we have better things to do. Here are some things to keep you preoccupied while still able to listen to inspired words!


Color.
Need I say more? This is my favorite way to kill time. Print out some black & white pages of Disney princesses or superheroes, get out your crayons and chillax.

No Cable?
Some (wise) people don't have cable in their homes. That doesn't mean you can't listen to Conference! Listen on the radio or watch on lds.org! Wouldn't it be great to take a portable radio & a blanket to the park and listen by yourself while laying out in the sun?

Get together with family or friends.
College kids can encourage each other by making it a gathering with snacks and a couch pajama party.

Take notes.
Writing down your favorite parts can help you remember what inspired you and make it a more enjoyable experience.

Write in your journal.
I know I have trouble writing in that thing often enough. Why not take a peaceful moment to catch up on your personal history?


Although listening to Conference can seem like a chore, I think it's always important to remember that Conference is a special treat for all of us. It can be easy to forget it, but God's prophets are here to give us His message. It would be foolish to forgo this incredible opportunity for the Holy Ghost to speak to us personally through these words.

Have a great Conference weekend!

Eat this! Chicken Coron Bleu - Lazy Style!

I made this the other day for the kiddies & it was my first big hit! Usually the stuff I make doesn't turn out so good. But hey, I know I'm not the best cook in the world. & They knew this when they first hired me. So don't judge.

This is super simple, super yummy, so out of the goodness of my heart I wanted to share it with you!

You need 1 of each for however many you're feeding (or more, for those people who eat more than their fair share):

• Breaded chicken sandwich patties, frozen
• Sliced ham
• Swiss cheese (or any mild white cheese, really. I used Monterey Jack cause we ran out of Swiss)
• Hamburger buns 

On a sheet pan, lay out chicken patties and lay ham & cheese on top. Cook for however long it says on the chicken package (mine cooked for 15 minutes at 450*).


Mix up a sauce with mustard + mayonaise to your taste to put on the sandwiches.



Might be a bit burnt on the edges when you take the patties out, like mine were, but don't worry 'cause they're still tasty! Put the patties on the buns with the sauce.

I paired it with sweet peas, but you can add whatever side to this that your heart desires.

Bon appetit!

Eat this! Twice Baked Potato

When I decided to make these a few days ago, I'd only eaten them once before. They are so unhealthy. If you make these, be sure to throw in some green beans or something healthy to balance it out. But these are easy, cheap, and that can't get much better for those broke college students out there!

I started Googling some recipes for Twice Baked Potatoes and some of them were really complicated, so I just simplified it a bit and pretty much you can throw anything you want into these bad boys. There's some wiggle room for how you like your taters. Whatever floats your boat.

Recipe for Twice Baked Potatoes, when you're cooking for yourself.

Scrub clean and dry 4 large potatoes.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Insert potatoes and cook for 30 minutes.

Take out potatoes, poke holes with fork, then put them back in for another 20-30 minutes.

Take out potatoes again. Slice potatoes in half (or whatever. I cut off the tops, just enough to do the next part--) and scoop out potato insides into large bowl. Make sure you leave enough in there to keep the skins' shape.

Mash up with the potato to give it nice, smooth texture:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Scoop up the mashed potato mix back into the empty skins, bake for another 20 minutes.

You can sprinkle on shredded cheese, bacon bits, green onions--whatever you love on your potato. Since this makes 4, eat one and then put the others into Ziploc baggies and refrigerate. You can reheat for other meals in the microwave for 1 or 2 minutes. 

So delish! Enjoy!

Obsession Confession: Michael Henry & Justin Robinett

I'm gonna be lazy today and just post some music videos of some pretty swell artists. If you don't like it, then you can go back to surfing Facebook or checking your Farmville. I will not be offended. Promise. 

I love artists who cover popular songs and make them different and unique to their own sound. Michael Henry & Justin Robinett are one of my favorites! 

This video is a cover that they sing with Alex Goot (another one of my faves!) of T-Swift's We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

Another band I love is Walk Off the Earth. Here are my favorite two videos they did: 

Magic.

And Party Rock Anthem.

If you enjoyed these vids, go to Youtube and surf these artists some more! They are awesome!

Au revoir!