Red, White, and Blueberries

Let me guess, you’re going to a 4th of July party with a bunch of hipsters who can’t eat anything yummy (read: burgers and brats), and you have no idea what to bring. Problem solved!*

*Note: Problem not solved if your hipster friends are doing Whole 30 as this summer treat is full of dairy. Problem only solved if your crew likes yogurt in mason jars. 

The main reason I think this would be a good party treat is because it’s so easy to make and super customizable. I made these parfaits look patriotic for the 4th, but you could use virtually any ingredients to make them fit your preferences. (See this post I did on a less healthy caramel apple parfait.) 

Patriotic Parfait Recipe

- Blueberries

- Strawberries

- Greek Yogurt (I used Chobani Vanilla Blended)

- Almond Slivers, Granola

- Honey to taste

It feels silly to even call this a recipe because it’s so easy-breezy. But in case you couldn’t figure it out on your own, I layered the ingredients in the mason jar, beginning with the greek yogurt. I added the blueberries next, and another layer of yogurt then I put strawberries on the top (obviously I should have put the blueberries on the top considering this post is called “Red, White, and Blueberries — oops). On the very top, I drizzled honey and added a few almond slivers.

So really this #shelearnsthings is about meal-planning because I’m so excited to have these yogurts to take to work this week! It takes me a while to warm up to the idea of breakfast in the morning, so I kinda have to force myself to eat something small first thing. (Does breakfast make anybody else nauseous, or is it just me?) My roommate, Merry, takes parfaits similar to these to work weekly and she really likes making (and eating) them. So, I’m accepting her influence and making room for more mason jars in the fridge! Speaking of the fridge, they should last several days when properly refrigerated.

Let me know if you make parfaits for patriotism! I'm going to eat mine now. America!

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Friendsgiving Toll House Pie

I have no idea where the name "Friendsgiving" came from, who came up with the idea, or why we haven't started calling the fourth Thursday in November "Familygiving." 

This whole "Friendsgiving" thing has gotten pretty trendy over the last couple years, and I personally think it's great. Thanksgiving may very well be my favorite holiday, so I'm not mad about having a little extra community over turkey and stuffing. My family has a looooong tradition (over 30 years) of going to a friend's house for Thanksgiving, so I guess you could say my parents were the original Friendsgiving hipsters.

I love our family Thanksgiving traditions. We tell the same stories each year, but they never get old. We usually see a movie (we had some great years when all of the Harry Potter movies came out in late November), and we always have pie. You knew I'd get around to talking about the pie eventually…

So, here it is. Toll House Pie. If you've never heard of it, it's like a chocolate chip cookie pie. If you've never tasted it, it's incredible. 

I'm not sure if this is the original recipe for toll house pie, but this is my mom's recipe, so it's the only one you'll need. 

Ingredients

- 2 eggs

- 1/2 cup flour

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

- 3/4 cup butter, melted & cooled

- 1 cup sumisweet chips

- 1 cup chopped walnuts

- unbaked pie crust

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Don't do like I did and drop half the egg into the sink on accident, but if you do, use another egg.

The chocolate chips are the best part of this pie, but it's not time to add them yet. After beating the eggs, beat in the flour, sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the melted butter. Finally (FINALLY!), stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. If you don't like walnuts, I suppose you could remove them from the recipe, but I recommend you learn to like walnuts and leave 'em in.

Pour the mixture into pie shell, and set the oven timer for 55 minutes. It's a long time, I know, but it's worth the wait. 

Serve warm to friends or family, with whipped cream on top. 

I hope you all have the loveliest giving season of all!

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She Plants Things: A Cacti Garden

So, if you read my post on succulents, you'll know at this point that a cactus is a type of succulent. Basically what that means is you don't have to water it very often *insert cheering noises here* ! Planting cacti is pretty simple, so if you're a novice gardener like myself--this post is for you. 

The most important thing when choosing a planter for your baby cactus is to remember that it's not healthy for cacti to be over-watered. You won't want your cactus to sit in water, otherwise it might drown! So, the best option is to pick a planter with drainage holes. If you run into a problem (like I did) where you looooooove a certain planter without drainage holes, you can add a layer of larger rocks to the bottom for some DIY drainage. That way, the cactus won't be chilling in the deep-end every time you water it.

Take your plant out of its temporary-living home, and it's ready to move into its forever home. (Or at least where it'll stay for about a year until you find a cuter container for it and decide to re-plant it.) Gently brush away the excess dirt that won't fit into your planter, but be careful that you don't damage the root system. Plants have feelings, too.

Pro-tip when planting a cactus: Be careful. Cactus needles aren't the softest things around. Once you've planted each of your prickly guys, you'll then fill in the empty spaces with soil. On top of the soil, you can add a thin layer of pebbles. This isn't necessary for the plants to grow, but it looks cute, so you should probably do it.

If you want to get really fancy, you can research the type of cactus you bought and look up specific care instructions for it. Cacti are like babies; every one is different, and some tend to be more needy than others. As a general rule, though, baby cacti require less attention than actual babies. 

And there ya have it! Cacti are cool… Well, even though they're technically plants for hot weather, but you get the point. 

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Homemade Peach Ice Cream

Ice cream? Yes, please.

My go-to flavors are chocolate chip cookie dough or mint chocolate chip, but I figured those would be a challenge for my first time attempting homemade ice cream. I was super excited when Julie from Fox KRBK asked if I would learn to make ice cream with her! Homemade ice cream seems like a nice thing that grandmothers make for their grandchildren in the summer. I have no grandchildren, but I decided to give it a go it anyway. I used this recipe from Glorious Treats.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 
2 cups milk (whole)

• 1/4 cup honey, warmed slightly

• 6 Tablespoons sugar

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 
2 large (or 3 medium) fresh peaches

First, we started chopping up the peaches. You're supposed to puree the first peach, and dice the rest. Julie and I used three medium peaches for our ice cream. The recipe recommends you dice the peaches to about the size of a pea, but you can cut 'em up larger or smaller depending on how chunky you want your ice cream to be. Ours was pretty chunky (mmm!)

Then, mix the rest of the ingredients into a large bowl, and whisk. Add in the cream, milk, honey, sugar, and vanilla. Once that is mixed, pour in the peach puree and the rest of the diced peaches, and stir again.

Pour the mixture into the ice cream machine, and follow the instructions on the ice cream maker. If you've never used one (welcome to the club...that I just got kicked out of...because I just learned how to use one), it's easier than it looks! You simply pour the gonna-be-ice-cream into the part of the ice cream maker that looks like a time capsule. We'll call this the ice cream capsule. 

Once the capsule lid is tightly secured, turn the machine on, and pour both ice and ice cream salt in between the ice cream capsule and the outside. Then, while you wait for your ice cream to freeze, magic happens. It should take about thirty minutes for the ice cream to be the right consistency.

Annnnnnnd, we did it!! The ice cream tasted really good--I was surprised the homemade version tasted so sweet! 

The toppings we added definitely helped to take the peach ice cream to another level. My favorite topping, surprisingly, were the nuts. I'm not normally a big fan of nuts on ice cream, but in this case: yes.

So, I'd consider homemade ice cream a success. If you want to check out the video, click here and jump to 2:50 (unless you want to watch the Springfield, MO local news.) Maybe next time I'll reach for the stars and try chocolate chip cookie dough?!

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