Let's Catch Up

Do you know what is nice? Sunshine. It is very nice. Incredibly nice actually! So, I thought to myself why not make a breakfast inspired by sunshine? After cross referencing this idea with ideas of the past, it passed with flying colors. I introduce to you, sunshine overnight oats.

Sunshine Overnight Oats

1/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup milk
1/2 banana, mashed
1/8 tsp orange extract
Goodies:
1 kiwi, chopped
1/2 peach, chopped
1 Tbsp shredded coconut
1 Tbsp granola

To start, mash half a banana in a bowl. Add in oats, milk, and extract. Give it a stir, then pop it into the fridge to do magical things overnight. I topped my oats with peach and kiwi slices, coconut, and granola. It could not have been more fantastic! The orange extract really gave it an extra special something. It did not overpower the oats at all; I was kind of nervous about it being horribly orange tasting.

I also served mine in a margarita glass because I thought it was fun!

Sunshine, the breakfast of champions!

Last night, while I was making my oats, my sister decided to whip up a batch of apple pie tops from "Oh She Glows" . I made these a while ago and everyone loved them! Too bad I didn't get to blog about it then, but everyone deserves a second chance. So this is my chance!

Itty-Bitty Apple Pies
ohsheglows.com

"Apple pie filling"
2 apples (I used one humongous golden delicious apple)
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice

"Crust"
1.25 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

"Other..."
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup banana, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two cookie sheets.
Peel apples. Take one apple and finely grate it. Take the other apple and chop it up into 1/2 inch pieces.
Add apples to a saucepan along with honey and lemon and heat on medium low for about 5 minutes (stir every couple of minutes while you mix up the rest of the ingredients.

Mix crust ingredients in a large bowl in the order as listed. In another bowl mix the "other" ingredients, as listed. Add apple mixture to the "other" mixture and lightly stir, then add to the "crust" mixture. Stir it all together!

Plop down a spoonful of the mixture onto the cookie sheet, not too large unless you want a larger cookie. Bake for 14 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet, then remove and enjoy!

Sounds like a lot of work for some little cookies, but trust me they are just so delicious!!

(This is my attempt at a photo shoot...)

So delicious! I highly recommend that you make these, they really taste like apple pie!! But they are quite healthy, unless you crumble them over ice cream  like moi...

I have something kind of cool to share, that is not about food miraculously.

Here are some clues:

A ribbon here

A pocket there

A rose up top

A seam down low

Voila! An apron. Made by me (and my mom!)

I love it! Sewing was definitely an adventure though. I thought that I was a very patient individual, but after having to cut this, sew that, press this, press this again, yes I had many a headache. But I learned how to hem and how to work the sewing machine. I have a bread recipe from my aunt that I am really looking forward to making, especially with my apron. Gone are the days when my family would laugh at the dusting of flour down the fronts of my shirts!

Have a lovely rest of the day!

Worry Wart

Do you ever have one of those days when your mind is going one thousand miles a second? Of course you have, you are only human. I, too, am human and find myself suffering from the racing mind syndrome. This feeling is icky. I'm tense, anxious, and quite unlike myself. For the past few days now I have been feeling like this. Whether I wake up with immediate fear that I had forgotten to complete something, or I sit down to think about what I will be doing after graduation, this feeling has been looming over my head quite frequently.

Today I woke up to a missed call from my volunteer coordinator at hospice. I had left her a message yesterday asking if she needed me to come in, after all it was the fourth of July and I was not sure if they were open. I figured that because I did not get in contact with her that the office was closed so I went about my merry business. But today I received a less than happy phone call from her stating that the office was open, only she had taken off for vacation that afternoon.

I couldn't help but feel wildly guilty, even though I see no fault in what I had done. I never like disappointing anyone, especially someone with whom I work with. On the other hand, I felt like I handled the situation as a young adult should, with respect. I don't know why this matters so much to me, it is only a volunteer job, nothing huge. But it does. And I can't seem to shake it out of my head that has been buzzing with worries of study abroad trips, money (or the lack thereof), school, my job, graduation, and post graduation.

I took this summer off with the approval of my parents. They have been so wonderful to me and know that I deserve to have some time off, especially from icky retail jobs. I just feel so blessed when it comes to them. But I also have felt rather anxious about my taking time off. I feel like I am not doing a good job, that I wasting my potential, and that I am not deserving of something so wholesome and good. It is a horrible feeling. I will never know why I do not find myself deserving of the good things in life. But for some reason I have been given them.

I worry far too much and about things that I have no control over, which is a very good way to go coo-coo banana crackers if you ask me. I know that we all have one of those days (only God knows why, probably to teach us a lesson of some sort) and I guess that today is just my turn. Even though the events of this morning have not left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, I am certain that I will have to change the way I think in order to have a beautiful day (which is not easy).

So, deep breath in. Exhale.

It's time to be beautiful.

More Than Just a Foodie

Where have I been? Good question. Doing a little of this and a little of that is really time consuming. I know, I lead a life of fabulousity and all around coolness. Don't be jealous, envious shades of green never look good on anyone. 

I have been up to a whole lot of nothing today. I watched the rain. Awesome. Watched the Casey Anthony trial, Judge Perry is my homeboy. I have also been exploring different talents that I may just have, or not have. My sister has been trying to teach me how to play the flute. It is difficult. Actually, I am difficult. Apparently, I am not very good at controlling my lips. Who knew? I can play one note and I do not even remember what the note is called. All I know is that I am better at the low notes than the high notes. I will never stop being an enigma.

I did get to do a lot of errands with my momster today. One of the places we stopped at was a trip that I had especially requested. The fabric store. Since the flute lessons are not going so well, I have decided to try out my hand in sewing. As we browsed aisles beyond aisles of fabric of all different textures, colors, patterns, and shines, I found myself totally confused. It felt completely foreign. Thankfully, my mom is a fabulous sewer so she guided the way through what I had only categorized as a labyrinth maze with the confidence of a beauty queen. We both decided on a pattern that was most suitable for my lifestyle. An apron. 

I am so pumped to get to sewing because today the only thing that I did was measure and cut. I thought about giving up a couple of times after getting so frustrated. Sometimes you forget how to be bad at something that is new to you. It is a life lesson. But I am determined to have a nice apron that I made on my own volition. I come from a long line of seamstresses, so hopefully there is some hope that their genes have been passed down to me. 

After a long day of cutting fabric, my life is so difficult, my sister wanted to get out of the house and finally visit  wholefoods. So the girls had an adventure. We meandered throughout the market, oohing and ahhing at all of the appropriate food items. Commenting, smelling, drooling (more on my part than the other gals), all came together to make our after dinner venture a fun one. 

(I don't really know what chia seeds are, but I see quite a lot of food bloggers talking about them/eating them. I haven't done either but I did take a picture of them)

(For obvious reasons this had to be photographed)

(Now this amazed me, an entire olive bar. I had no idea that there were so many types of olives!)

(Interesting)

(I was hungry. This was beautiful. Do the math.)

(So true.)

I had every intention to bake today, but sometimes life is a little sweeter than any culinary creation that you can craft. I was with my mom today in Barnes & Noble looking for summer reading books when we came across the book 14,001 reasons to be happy. My mom pointed the book out to me as it surely looked like a book that I would thoroughly enjoy, and I told her "I have more reasons than 14,001 to be happy". And it's the truth.

July Goals

Oh my divinity. It is the last day of June. How did that happen? I swear that just a week ago it was the beginning of summer vacation. I have never liked the month of July, usually because it has signified the beginning of the end of summer. Oh well, I will just have to suck it up. And go to the beach as many times as I possibly can. Since another rainy morning is upon us, I am finding myself stuck in the house watching the news (I hope that this kind of t.v. will not melt my brain, I am going to need it this coming school year). I kind of like/love this rainy weather. The sun isn't brutally hot, there is always a good excuse to take a nap at 3pm, and it is perfect movie weather at night, what else can a girl ask for?

Well, since the month of July is upon us, I decided to come up with some goals for the month of July. 

1. Get a passport (very very important!)
2. Bake the bread recipe that my Aunt sent me (how lovely!)
3. Volunteering at least 2 times a week at Hospice
4. Go on a day-cation with my sister and mom to the outlet malls (yay!)
5. Write 2 articles to submit to blog sites for publication

I'm sure that there is a lot more to do than just those five things, but right now that is all I can think of! June was a pretty wonderful month! Here are just a few things that I am proud of this past month.

1. Made English Muffins for my Dad on Father's day.
2. The women that I work with for my volunteer job love me coming in! It is such a nice feeling to be welcomed and liked only after a couple of times working, even if it is only filing. I know my ABCs.
3. I bought a skirt. I know this is a weird thing to be proud of but I have not owned a skirt in about 10 years. I just thought that I was not good enough for skirts. But I realized, with the help of my sister aka my shopping buddy, that I can wear skirts and that doesn't mean that I am a weak, dainty girl. Boo yah.
4. I got hired to work with a catering company. I know, a job where I get to work with food!
5. I have really worked on my blog and I am proud of that! I know that this blog is young and that I am a young writer but I have realized that I am going to have to work hard for this because this is what I love to do!

I hope that July will be a great month too, even though I know that it will be time for school to start again. This new school year will at least be a new adventure and I am always up for an adventure!

Have a lovely last day in June!