Homemade Mayo

Homemade Mayo

DSC_9957 copySoooooooo full disclosure here, I have never been a fan of mayonnaise. You’re probably thinking “Um, what? Isn’t this post dedicated to mayo?”

YES. But hear me out.

I think it all started from an attempt to do a Hellmans mayo hair mask when I was around 13 years old. The smell you guys. Mayo heating up on your head, you can’t escape it. ughhhhh. So gross. Ever since then, even the whiff of mayo makes me lose my appetite immediately.

But then a little while ago I tried my aunt’s homemade lemon tarragon mayo with some bbq chicken wings (thas a whole other post to talk about how good that was) in short, it was sooo good. TOTALLY different flavor than the stuff on the store shelves. I decided I’d give making my own a try.

Not only was I surprised how easy it was to make, but also totally surprised how delicious it is! There are so many flavor combo’s you can think up. I wanted to try a spicy one.

Of course last week you caught a glimpse of it on these great tacos that we shared. DSC_9996Spicy, creamy, delicious. It’s the perfect way to get some healthy fats and tons of flavor to the tacos, or sandwiches or whatever else you put mayo on (I told you I’m new to this mayo world) 🙂
DSC_9947 copyThe possible best part of this, is that you make it right in the wide mouth jar that you store it in. NO DISHES!!!

Entire process is about 30 seconds.
ALWAYSSUMMERDSC_9939 copyTA-DA! Done. And all with ingredients you can name and recognize (unlike store-bought). I suggested a few flavor add ins but basically you could do anything you wanted!
DSC_9934 copyDSC_9953 copyThis spicy sriracha one is so good. Next on my list I want to try a curry mayo, & do a curried chicken salad of some type.
DSC_9963 copyA few action shots so you can see how thick and creamy it is. And of course, perfect on these delicious caramelized pork tacos with pineapple cucumber salsaDSC_9989

Have any of you made mayo before? Do you have any outstanding flavor combos I should add to my list? I’d love to hear from you!

xoxo

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Butternut Squash
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2015 Year in Review

2015 Year in Review

Brownies (1)Yowza! It’s the last day of 2015. I swear we just went through this new year thing….already a new one?!? Time flies when you’re having fun.

2015 was an amazing year for me, personally and on the blog with my ever evolving journey with Eat Laugh Craft. Grab a cup of coffee and feast your eyes on way too many photos of my year 🙂

Take a look!

I got married to the most wonderful guy in the world! Surrounded by our absolute favorite people in our lives.

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And then we went to Italy! First stop: TUSCANY ❤ ❤ ❤

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Then we made our way to the Amalfi Coast ❤

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That last picture is RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR BEDROOM WINDOW PEOPLE!!! I’ve been wanting to travel to Italy since before I can even remember. And we finally did it and it was SO MUCH BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE EVER DREAMED. Sorry for yelling. It’s just really that amazing. We are already planning our next trip back!

Now for blog awesomeness!

We were on TV! Check out the crafting special we did for our local ABC affiliate station here in Madison, HERE. This was such a cool experience that we got to do. Only little mishap was that the station thought I was from JoAnn Craft and Fabric stores, but in reality they only sponsored us. Good thing I have my sign there (that’s so small no one can read 🙂 )!

We had another busy year on the blog we published 31 posts (got a little derailed with all the DIY stuff for the wedding so we didn’t hit our one post a week goal but 2016 is a new year).

We also had over 100,000 views in 2015!! Here is a breakdown of our top 5 posts:

2015 top 5Thank you all for helping make our 2015 such a wonderful year! It is such an awesome experience to be able to share my ideas and tips and tricks and actually have people listen! You are all the best, whether this is your first time stopping by or you’ve been reading since the beginning (hi mom and dad).

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe (find yourself a DD or call a cab!) New Years Eve! I have an exciting night of a delicious cheese board and Chianti Classico wine (a special bottle from our honeymoon) planned and to be honest, I might I’ll probably be passed out by 10 pm….. and I’m 26, thanks for asking 🙂

xoxo

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Turkey Leftover Recipe Roundup

Turkey Leftover Recipe Roundup

ThankYou!Happy Thanksgiving (a day late) everyone! I hope that you enjoyed the day with family and friends or whomever makes you happy!

I love holidays and getting together with family and making and eating great food. I love leftovers and being able to eat the wonderful goodness for days! One thing there’s ALWAYS leftovers of is turkey! I have no problem eating just plan old turkey leftovers but sometimes you want to stretch them out and make a whole other meal with it!

I wanted to do a roundup of my favorite recipes to use up your turkey leftovers from yesterday! If you have a favorite recipe that used chicken, you can totally substitute the turkey in place of the chicken. But here are some of my favorites ones that I put together! Most of them really change the flavors up and are so different from what most people ate yesterday but a few incorporate classic thanksgiving day flavors and help use up some of your other leftovers you have! Please enjoy!!Copy of ALWAYSSUMMER.pngTurkey Pot Pie
Creamy Turkey Casserole
Turkey Cranberry Risotto
Turkey Tamale Pie
Turkey Cranberry BBQ Pizza
Thanksgiving Turkey Pizza
Turkey Pho
Turkey & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Cheesy Turkey Enchiladas
Turkey Tikka Masala

Now some of those recipes call for chicken but as I said turkey would be equally as delicious.

I am so thankful for so many things in my life but one of them is this blog and all of my readers who help keep me motivated and prove that someone is actually reading what I’m saying and making what I’m cooking up 🙂 Thank you!!!!!!!

xoxo669058772380712020613

Chocolate Dipped Espresso Shortbread

Chocolate Dipped Espresso Shortbread

1If you follow me on Instagram (if you don’t you should, here) you probably recognize these beauties from something a posted a few weeks ago. Inspiration at it’s finest. I couldn’t get these out of my head since I first laid eyes on them and had to re-create them for myself.3They were so good. I love coffee flavored things (coffee ice cream I’m looking at you) almost more than I love coffee itself. The espresso in this recipe gives it the perfect hint of coffee flavors mixed with buttery, salty, crunchy, goodness.
If you have a sweet tooth, I recommend giving these a try. They don’t make a ton of cookies so you won’t be tempted to eat more than your fair share (or if you ate them all it was only 8 (or however you cut them) 🙂 ALWAYSSUMMER (5)The inspiration used sugar on the chocolate rim, but I love sweet and salty mixes so I sprinkled mine with salt instead. It was sooooooooooooooooooo damn good. 4I couldn’t make up my mind between sizes so I cut my round into 8ths and then I cut half of them in half again. That’s why you see multiple sizes2They were the perfect little sweet treat for the end of a day or the cutest little snack to have with your morning coffee!
This weekend we are off to see my “little” brother in his musical in high school! Time flies, srlslyyyyy. But it will be nice to relax and recharge a little bit in the country. Have a fun and safe weekend!

xoxo669058772380712020613

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Butternut Squash (2)

Salted Caramel Popcorn

Salted Caramel Popcorn

20150925_180539So if you know me at all, you know I’m OBSESSED with popcorn.

Obsessed is probably not even giving my love of popcorn justice but I can’t come up with a stronger adjective right now 🙂

My favorite popcorn topping is nutritional yeast (ummm wipe that look of your face, it’s delicious). But truth be told, I’ve never met a popcorn I didn’t really like.

One day when I was working browsing through Pinterest (but seriously how can I get a job doing that?) I came across a post on caramel popcorn. I’m more of a salty and sweet type of girl so I thought why not make salted caramel popcorn?

Well point for me! Because it turned out amazing. One tip (careful of unpopped kernals! If they’re mixed in with your caramely clusters you could hurt your teeth! ( I didn’t do that or anything…)  Enjoy!!
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ALWAYSSUMMER (2)3546Call me cliché but I made this and ate it while watching Scandal. It was a perfect night! 🙂

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