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*Photo credit

This recipe is super easy, healthy and satisfies a serious craving for veggies, healthy food and stir fry all at once!!

Honey-Sesame Quinoa Stirfry

Ingredients: (serves 1)

~1 cup of vegetables of your choice, chopped

(I used broccoli, red bell pepper and loads of green onions)

Cooked quinoa, 1-2 cups according to your preference

1 tbsp oil (vegetable, canola, whatever you prefer)

Sauce:

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

siracha, to taste

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 tsp corn starch + 2 tbsp water

Directions:

Mix together honey, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and siracha for the sauce. Taste and adjust according to your preferences. Then, in a separate bowl combine corn starch and water. Slowly add to your sauce. Set aside.

In a wok, heat 1 tbsp oil. When the oil starts to smoke, lower the heat to a medium- low setting and carefully add chopped vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are almost done, adding a spoonfull of the sauce at a time in order to prevent burning. When the vegetables are nearly cooked through, add the cooked quinoa. You can add as much or as little as you like, I used roughly a cup or 1.5 cups. Pour in the rest of the sauce and stir until it is well incorporated and the vegetables are cooked through. 

Scoop into a bowl and enjoy!

*Optional- top with freshly chopped green onions and sesame seeds. 

I apologize that the nature of my recipes often require adjusting on your part, but I usually don’t know what I am making until it is done. So I usually never measure, but I am trying to work on this! :)

You know those recipes that you make, and you instantly regret putting the egg in it because you just want to eat it raw? This is a perfect example. I had to change the original recipe quite a bit to make it healthier and to fit it to the ingredients that I had on hand. Here is my amended banana bread recipe, with oats and spices!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour*
• 1 1/4 cup oats
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup of butter, softened
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 cups mashed bananas
• Chopped nuts, optional

Kitchen Tools:

• Measuring cups + spoons
• 2 mixing bowls
• Hand mixer
• Fork to mash bananas with
• Pliable baking spatula  

Instructions:

In one bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and soda, and oats. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream together sugars, butter and apple sauce until fluffy. Slowly add the egg, then the milk and vanilla. If you are using nuts, add these in as well. Mix well. Alternately add the mashed banana and the dry mixture until all of the ingredients have been incorporated. Pour into greased loaf pan. Optional- sprinkle with a pinch of oats and spices. Bake at 350 for about an hour, give or take 15 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. 

You could also choose to use a muffin pan, or mini loaf pans! You could then use a toothpick to check for doneness. Optional- serve with cream cheese and a cup of tea, coffee or milk. Enjoy :)

Don’t you wish it was fall? I sure do…

*A note about flour: if you want this recipe to be even healthier, you could use half or all whole wheat flour instead of white flour. You could also add other kinds of fruit, such as raspberries or blueberries. 

(via tanandtoned)

Today for lunch, I got to cook for myself! This is a big deal because now that I live with my parents, they usually are cooking for me, so I don’t get a chance to be creative in the kitchen anymore. But, today was an exception :)

Fresh Vegetables with Orzo

Ingredients:

• Aprox. 1.5 cups uncooked orzo pasta (or about 1/3 of a box, I use Barilla)
• Aprox. 2 cups vegetable broth
• Aprox. 2 cups of water
• 3/4 cup of chopped fresh green beans
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh broccoli
• 1/4 cup chopped white onion
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/3 cup of cherry tomatos, halved
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes (optional*)
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning (dried basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and garlic)
• 1/3 cup of italian blend cheese 
• 1 tbsp romano cheese
• Fresh basil, romano cheese, and chili flakes, for garnish. 

Cook orzo for 8 minutes so that it is al dente, using 1 cup of vegetable broth and 2 cups of water (approximately- add more water if you need to). When it is done, move the pot to a cool burner. 

While the orzo is cooking, combine the onion, green beans, broccoli, butter and olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Saute with the lid on for 5 minutes over medium heat. Uncover, add a generous splash of vegetable broth, your tomatoes, sun-dried tomato oil, and garlic. Cook until the green beans and broccoli are fork-tender, adding more broth if needed. Then add your drained, cooked orzo to the skillet. Saute with the vegetables. Sprinkle in the Italian seasoning and stir. Slowly add the cheese, and stir to form a creamy texture (add more stock if needed). 

Garnish with fresh basil, additional romano cheese, and chili flakes if you wish. 

*I don’t actually like sun-dried tomatoes, I only like the oil in the jar. You can add the actual tomatoes if you want, or skip this ingredient completely. 

This recipe was not very easy to write, because I neglected to measure while I was cooking. I need to get in the habit of always measuring! Anyway, it is a pretty easy recipe that I made up off the top of my head. Obviously, you can add more vegetables if you want, or even a lean meat on the side! This was a really delicious lunch, that would definitely serve two with a little bit left over. Bon apetit, friends!

**Optional additions, to keep you full longer: a sprinkle of chia seeds or ground flax seeds.

some crafty things lately..

PICTURE FRAME » EARRING HANGER

before- picture frame from goodwill

after- earring hanger!

BED AND WINDOW LINNENS » CUTE SKIRT!

before: sheets and a lace window treatment

after: super cute skirt!

a close up of the bottom:

Another before and after, that I don’t have pictures of- Sarah’s super cute white board made from a picture frame. It is so adorable! 

My baby kitten is 3 today <3 

Sorry again for my absence on my blog! I had been in California since Sunday, and just arrived home last night. I was in California with some good family friends whose girls I babysit. Their father couldn’t come on the trip, so their mom asked me to come along to help with the girls (3 and 7 years old). It was so, so fun! We were in San Diego all five days, and we got to see many parts of San Diego that were new to me, which was fun. Their mom, Cathy, used to live in SD, so she already knew of a lot of places that she wanted to take the girls. Some of the highlights of the trip included the children’s museum, Coronado Island beach, the Birch Aquarium, Balboa Park, a cruise tour of the San Diego shoreline, a La Jolla beach, and lots of food!

Here are some pictures from the trip..

Balboa Park

In the garden at Balboa Park

Orchids at Balboa Park

Lily Ponds at Balboa Park

View of Downtown San Diego from our boat tour

cutsies

Abby & I on the boat tour

Star fish & sea urchin at the Birch Aquarium

La Jolla Beach

It was super fun! The girls were very good for the most part.. I have to admit, it seems so quiet now that I am home and the trip is over! Abby and I had a lot of fun doing the “big kid” things while her little sister spent time with her mom doing thins appropriate for her age. Together, Abby and I found over 20 sand dollars at a Coronado beach! So, so amazing! 

I can’t wait till the next time that I can travel…

It’s funny how one summer can change everything. It must be something about the heat and the smell of chlorine, fresh-cut grass and honeysuckle, asphalt sizzling after late-day thunderstorms, the stem rising while everything drips around it. Something about long, lazy days and whirring air conditioners and bright plastic flip-flops from the drugstore thwacking down the street. Something about fall being so close, another year, another Christmas, another beginning. So much in one summer, stirring up like the storms that crest at the end of each day, blowing out all the heat and dirt to leave everything gasping and cool. Everyone can reach back to one summer and lay a finger to it, finding the exact point when everything changed. That summer was mine..

Sarah Dessen

I LOVE new things for my kitchen! Right now it is super unrealistic to be buying things for “my” kitchen, since I’m currently living with my parents. But a girl can dream, right?

I am loving these farmers market inspired pieces from Anthropologie!

Tea & Toast Butter Dish

Farmer’s Market Basket

Farmer’s Egg Crate

I also adore any painted stoneware or ceramic, like this gorgeous tea set..

I do love a good clean white plate, but eating off of these dessert plates would just be so much more fun & cheery, don’t you think?

And these salt & pepper shakers sure would add a nice pop of color to a dining table..

Okay, okay I’ll admit it; I really just wish I could decorate my entire kitchen from anthropologie!!