Lemon Blueberry Jam

We used to live about half a mile away from a blueberry picking patch. I only went there once...can you believe that??  I ran by it for the three summer's we lived there and I would aways tell myself I was going to go but only made it the one time. We now live by a raspberry patch. I will definitely be visiting that more.  :) 

So if you live in the vicinity of a delicious fruit picking patch.....GO!! You won't regret it and can have delicious fresh fruit to just eat or to make anything you want...especially JAM!

My love affair with jam started last year. I grew up with grape jelly and that was never my favorite. Once I discovered strawberry jam in my later years I really started to enjoy all the different mixed jam out there on the market. I recently was given an orange marmalade that was fantastic. Some brands I really love are stonewall kitchen or Bonne Maman. HERE is a good list of store brought brands.

When I went picking for these blueberries I had a plan to make some sort of jam but I was a little nervous. I had herd jamming could be complicated and a long process. I plugged a couple ideas into google and this recipe popped up! All it uses is the blueberries, sugar and lemon jello, THATS IT. If you have ever tried to put lemon and blueberries together you'll know the flavor is amazing. The citrus of the lemon goes PERFECTLY with the tartness of blueberries. 

Once again if you ever get the chance to pick anything I would recommend it! It's a lot of fun :) 

Easy Lemon Blueberry Jam

Two ingredient banana pancakes

Who doesn't love pancakes?? They are a great weekend breakfast to have with family or friends at home or at your favorite breakfast cafe to order! Pancakes are delicious but sometimes you don't have the time to make them or you might be looking for a lighter option then a huge stack of pancakes.

I give you these yummy two ingredient pancakes! No sugar, flour, or oil! Gluten free, healthy, quick to make and tasty....thats what I'm talking about! :)

All you need for these pancakes is 1 banana and 2 eggs. When I made them I used half a banana and 1 egg and that makes 3 small pancakes for one individual :) I also added blueberries to them. These pancakes are very light, seeing as it is only bananas and eggs. Be careful when flipping them on pan because they are quite fragile! Make sure you have enough oil on the pan and the heat isn't to high! I only added a little maple syrup which isn't even necessary because they are already naturally sweet from banana! For a more filling breakfast top with greek yogurt or peanubutter. I am going to try that next time and I'm sure I'm going to like these even more! Here are a couple recipes for them around the web!

Banana blueberry (this is the recipe I used, you should also look at her blog... she is funny, cute and informative on the best subjects (marriage,life,kids, food, fashion)

Two ingredient pancakes

Two ingredient pancakes

Happy Friday! 

Pretzels

Fun Fact: I used to call pretzels PRENzels. I think I pronounced it like that until sometime in elementary school! My best friend still makes fun of me for it...I was special.

We always had pretzels in the house growing up. My mom was and still is a die hard rold gold fan. I was never much a fan, I was more of a potato chip girl growing up. Ruffles were the best! 

Then I met Alex. He LOVES pretzels. He buys snyders pretzels, and I must say in my opinion snyders does make the best pretzel! I think they just have a better flavor and saltiness to them then rold gold. They also have so many fun flavors and different shapes/sizes and even ones with peanut butter and chocolate! That sold me over right there! 

Alright why do I keep going on and on about pretzels.....because it's National Pretzel Day :) Buzzfeed put out this fun list of things to eat today.

What I am talking about today though is homemade soft pretzels. I made these for Alex's birthday one year because he isn't much of a sweets fan but loves his salt.  He now requests these ALL the time. I should of never made them ;). This recipe is kind of time consuming and not as simple as some but the pretzels are crunchy, salty, chewy and DELICIOUS.  There are a ton of recipes out there that are little easier than this, just google homemade soft pretzels. If you want to give this one a whirl though it's totally worth it. Enjoy!

Soft Pretzels  

Moderation

I made this salad a couple weeks ago. It included of spinach, arugula, prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and burata cheese. It was AMAZING and the glass of wine complimented it perfectly. Simple and delicious. 

I've always been about moderation my whole life. Even as a kid my dad was always amazed that I stopped when I wasn't hungry anymore or I got a bowl to portion out things. 

Now I'm not perfect, I've strayed away from that moderate lifestyle and I've regretted it. It's extremely hard to do, and it keeps getting harder and harder with all the ridiculous food products rot there now. The best advice I can give you is if you don't know what's in it, DONT eat it. EAT REAL WHOLE FOODS. I love Huffpost articles and I stumbled upon this today. It's a great read and happy to say I follow a lot of the habits.

14 habits of people with a healthy relationship to food

Happy Monday!

Peanut butter jelly thumbprints

Peanut buter and jelly, it really is the perfect combo. When I found this cookie recipe I was PRETTY excited. I got a lot of good pictures of them...

These are RIDICULOUSLY easy to make. Now go make them and impress all your friends and family :) 

Peanutbutter and Jelly thumbprint cookies

Happy Monday

Because cookies are delicious...happy

Monday! 

Banana " Icecream"

I LOVE bananas. They are so versatile. In breads they are moist and delicious, with peanut butter they are a filling snack, and when you freeze them it's a whole other ball game! Once frozen and blended they take on this wonderful creamy texture, both in smoothies and in this "icecream". All you need to do is peel a banana, cut it up and freeze it and blend it in a food processor and BOOM an amazing healthy icecream! You can take it to the next level by adding peanut butter or chocolate cocoa to it! I've done both (peanut butter is my fav obviously). I also have topped it with granola or nuts for a sundae like creation.  You REALLY need a food processor for this unless you have a really good blender or this fun gadget. 

Banana icecream

Enjoy this yummy treat!