Friday Favs

Hiii! Happy Friday! The weekend is finally here! We have a busy one on the books. We are going to Minneapolis to visit a best friend of mine and then we are coming back to Madison on Sunday morning and having a few friends over for the superbowl game later. I prepped as much food as I could last night so that it wouldn’t be impossible on Sunday as we’d be a little pressed for time. I made/will make some really fun and cute stuff! I promise to share soon! I’m sorry to report that today is another non-food post- I have a couple of awesome recipes I want to share with you but need to take the time to edit and make little improvements first. So today I’ll share my Friday Favs #2! Any and every thing I’m loving lately. Check it out.

1) These boots:

As many of you know I live in Wisconsin. The past month has been, in a word, freezing. Seriously so cold. Like -40 windchill cold. Children don’t go to school because it’s so cold. Earlier in the winter (like November) I decided to invest in a good pair of winter boots. I had been wearing my uggs for literally 6 years and they had ZERO tred/traction left, and were falling apart. I looked around for a while but then found THE boot of all winter boots! Behold the Sorel Joan of the Arctic! Not cheap but totally worth it. These babies are so warm and comfortable, not to mention a.dor.able and I am sooo obsessed with them. My heart will break a little when I need to put them away for the season. I would recommend these to ANYONE (particularly if you live where it’s cold). The best part is the liner is removeable so if it gets bad (like fur starts looking questionable or they just start smelling 😉 ) you can remove them and either wash them or replace them! (you can buy replacement liners). There are SOOO many other cute styles too!

2) This water:

First of all- I am obsessed with this stuff. I drink it by itself all the time, but I was researching some fun recipes to use the water in and came across the LaCroix website. These are are fabulous! Plus there are flavors on here I didn’t know existed…um hello passionfruit! The ideas on here are so fun. But this looks like something I could definitely get into 🙂

3) This magic:

COCONUT OIL is my latest (actually been in love with it for about 3 years now) obsession. It is good for any thing you can think of. Cooking- I LOVE it for making popcorn, oil pulling (seriously look into this if you don’t do it already- my teeth are like 5 shades whiter because of it I swear! Although that’s not why I do it) it’s great for your skin (think chapstick, dry elbows, legs, face etc…) it does wonders as a conditioning treatment for your hair, I even read a blog post last week about how it is a natural (and effective!) personal lubricant (if you catch my drift 😉 ) butttt my all time favorite use for it is as eye make up remover. I take a cotton swab or ball and scoop some up and my makeup is gone and my eye lashes are conditioned in like 10 seconds flat. I buy mine from Costco and it comes in TWO giant containers which is great for me but if you are skeptical just look for organic, unrefined, cold pressed coconut oil and you’ll be golden. This will change your life I swear!!

4) Wedding Planning e-cards

Wedding planning is in full swing and I’m going crazy! To give you an idea of how it’s going………. Jake and I argued about what freaking plastic cup sizes to get for the wedding for almost TWO HOURS!!!! Yeah, sadly I’m not kidding. And measuring cups may or may not have been brought out to determine just how much 8,9,10,12,14, and 16 oz is and what it looks like. And what beer, cocktails, and wine should be served out of. We’re still not even decided- is it too late to elope? I don’t mean to complain but this is the first major event I’ve planned. My family thinks I’m a crazy planner lady with way too many lists but I couldn’t ~~afford~~ justify spending that kind of money, on a wedding planner or day of coordinator so it’s just me(that’s a little dramatic I have family and friends who are helping). I feel like I’m forgetting things! oh and how the laksdfj;alejr;lksdfjsdfj am I going to get everything there to our location?!?! Ok- I’m done I know you feel like this:

🙂 So I’ll stop. But seriously I know it’s worth it and in the end it will all be great! But lots still left to do!

There are LOTS of funny ecards for weddings/planning out there. Too many funny ones that I have to share a few- enjoy!

Ahh- laughter is good for the soul 🙂 Thanks for reading and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

xoxo

Quick Pickled Jalapenos

Hello my favorite blog readers 🙂

So if you have been following my blog for any amount of time you know that I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE spicy food. Seriously sometimes I cause myself pain for the love of spicy food. This was one of those times. My mom has a ginormous garden and also some friends who also have ginormous gardens, long story short, I went home one time and she asked if I wanted some of their home grown organic jalapenos.

Um duh yes I do.

Fast forward she gives me a bag of about 100. Not lying. Fast forward more- I wanted to just dice some and throw in the freezer to use for recipes and various things throughout the year but I also wanted to try this at home pickling recipe. I love pickled jalapenos but sometimes they are so mushy and sort of gross and not that spicy.

Ok soooooooo not to sound pompous but I don’t really think that jalapenos are that spicy. Sometimes you get a spicy one but more often than not, they’re just sort of a warm heat in your mouth. Anyway, I never use gloves or anything when I cut them up normally because I just wash my hands when I’m done and go on my merry way. I’m sure you can tell where this story might be going- I’ll get to the point.

HOLY SHIT. The peppers my mom gave me were soooo effing hot. Mind you I didn’t even cut them all my hand. (I washed, cut the tops off and cut in half lengthwise and then diced with this bad boy) well after about 5 (of the 100) I’m like whoa- I am having a hard time breathing. I started coughing and my eyes burned. I licked one of the peppers and hot damn my mouth was on fire. Well I couldn’t just stop in the middle so I kept going.

I had to take approximately 10 breaks to cough/ gag/drool/die in the sink, literally my mouth and eyes had saliva and tears flowing out of them at a rate beyond my control. Then to top this all off, my hands started throbbing. Like on FIRE. Especially my finger tips and cuticle areas. Seriously, my anxiety brain had thoughts of paralysis running through my mind and they were getting swollen and hurt so bad I could barely bend my fingers. You think I’m being dramatic. I am not. Swear on my life.

Anyway- I’m crazy and apparently a masochist so I finished all the peppers, cleaned up, washed everything twice, washed my hands like 50958209348 times and put ice on my hands. Ok. How fun was that?!?

Ahhhhh, next day, I wake up and start getting ready for work, doing my makeup, get something in my eye, use my finger get said thing out of my eye, ruin all my makeup because my eye starts burning and watering like cray cray again………….. I mean jesus. I called my mom asking her what she was trying to do to me with these killer psycho jalapenos. She said they mayyy have cross pollinated with some hotter ones…… perf.

Anyway, after about 3 days my hands returned to normal and I was able to touch my face without breaking out in tears.

You’re probably thinking “this story is supposed to make me want to make these freaking peppers?!”….. um yes. Yes, it is. These babies are soooo freaking good. Crisp and spicy (as the story above eludes to 🙂 ) and not full of any chemicals that you’ll get in the store bought kinds. The story’s main point was to make you laugh and also caution you don’t by lethal grade jalapenos and if you do, wear a HAZMAT suit or at the very least gloves and possibly goggles too 🙂

You need to try these- but be careful!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup white vinegar

3 T white sugar

1 T kosher salt

1 clove garlic, crushed or chopped

1/2 tsp oregano

15-20 jalapeno peppers, sliced into rings

Directions:

1. Combine water, vinegar, sugar, kosher salt, garlic, and oregano in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, stir in jalapeno peppers and remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes or longer.

2. Pack peppers into jars using gloves or tongs, cover with vinegar mixture, cover, and refrigerate until ready to eat!

I love these. And so fast and simple. This is 100%, without a doubt, one of those things that I will no longer buy store bought versions of. There is no comparison taste and texture wise. I’ll just be more cautious with prep next time!

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xoxo