Summer Dates

On the first day of Summer, Con and I found ourselves chilling for two days in front of Netflix. We decided that it was time to get off the couch and do something better with our summer. So we decided to create a list of easy, cheap things to do on those summer nights.

1. Go for a walk up the canyon. Logan Canyon is the best place to go walking in the summer. There's easy nature walks to strenuous hikes. Sometimes we'll just explore trails to see where they go. It's fun to be out in God's creations. 
2. To the park. We have Merlin Olsen in our backyard and it makes for some great people watching. If we're really feeling childish, we'll even go down the slide a few times. 
3. Hammocking. The best investment ever! We purchased some hammocks last summer and love to take them to a quiet place to read or just sit and talk. 
4. Snow cone Drive. A child sized snow cone is $1.50. This makes for a cheap, tasty date to enjoy in the summer. I have to admit, margarita and lime are my favorite flavors. And when you add sweetened condensed milk  .... 
via GIPHY

5. Campfires. All you need for a fire is firewood (duh), matches, and MAYBE something to roast. I totally believe there's a reason humans have been drawn to fire for so many years. Plus, there's just something so romantic about seeing the one you love in firelight. 
6. Stargazing. Obviously we have to wait till it's dark so sometimes that gets late but we loooove filling the bed of our truck with blankets and pillows and finding an abandon field. And more often than not, stargazing turns into a little more than that ;) 

So those are just some of our favorite things to do in the summer that cost little to no money and don't take a lot of planning! What are some of your favorite things? 

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

Hey ya'll! It's been awhile since I posted a recipe and since today is Mexican Monday, I thought I'd share my favorite chicken for ANY Mexican dish. For tonight we put it on tostadas but I've had it in tacos, burritos, taco salads, and even enchiladas. Big thank to my Mamma for the original.

Chicken Tostadas

Ingredients 

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1/2 c. Italian dressing
• 1  1-oz Ranch dressing seasoning
• 1 1-oz taco seasoning
• 1/2 c. water
• 6-8 cloves of minced or smashed garlic
• 1 TB dehydrated onion
• Salt, to taste
• Juice from one lime

Place all ingredients but salt and lime juice in crock-pot on low for 4 hours (or high for 2). When done, drain most of the liquid and sprinkle in salt and lime juice. Shred and serve. It's that easy folks. We ate it with tostadas, guacamole, lettuce, sour cream, and salsa. Easiest dinner ever. And very low-carb (if you're into that kind of thing). 

Meal Plan

Dinners this week:

Winger's Sticky Finger Wraps
Chicken Tostadas
Fettuccine Alfredo
Turkey steak and au gratin potatoes
Hamburgers

Groceries:

strawberries
limes
garlic
shred. lettuce
guacamole
salsa
tostada
bread
Italian cheese
frozen chicken breast
frozen chicken strips
au grautin potatoes
dehydrated onions
beans
chili
milk

Now that school is over, I'm hoping to have more time for this blog!!

Topic: New Technology

One of my favorite things about the Internet is being able to order food online. It means not talking to a person and quickly getting the food I want.

Lately, I've been noticing a lot of friends posting about food cravings, or food pictures, then tagging that company in them. A smart brand would take advantage of those social media shout-outs, send coupons or thank yous of some sort to the person. Not only would that build brand loyalty, but help increase reach and engagement. User generated content (UCG) is extremely important for most brands. It helps to listen to your audience with tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout, and Google alerts, to determine what they need.

But what if this individual who craved a certain restaurant, could tweet at the company, then get a downloadable file, and 3D print their food craving.

This is how I foresee 3D printing changing social media. Not only will our food industry become less personal, but more easily attainable in our homes. People will indulge more, because of how easy it will be to get our food. Social media will become the next phone for take-out.

Just imagine, craving Panda Express orange chicken, tagging them on Instagram, them getting notified of your order, then you printing out a hot, steamy bowl of citrus goodness within 10 minutes. I can only imagine the possibilities.

I know what you're thinking, "Ya right." But "Natural Machines" has already made it happen:

"The "Foodini," as it's called, isn't too different from a regular 3D printer, but instead of printing with plastics, it deploys edible ingredients squeezed out of stainless steel capsules: "It's the same technology," says Lynette Kucsma, co-founder of Natural Machines, "but with plastics there's just one melting point, whereas with food it's different temperatures, consistencies and textures. Also, gravity works a little bit against us, as food doesn't hold the shape as well as plastic."

Check out this video:

If you want to learn more about the future of this technology, check out the 3D Food Printing Conference.  Here you can get updates on the new technology that is emerging around the world.

And because social media has connected us globally, imagine being able to download traditional Swahili or Thai food, through Facebook. Because money exchanging technology is always improving, 3D restaurants will be able to serve people throughout the world.

Instagram will be full of a lot more food now, hope you are ready.

Food bloggers can work on developing their specific codes, rather then recipes.

And engineers will turn into the Julia Childs of the 21st century (or maybe 22nd, who knows)

I can't wait until I can print my own Cafe Sabor burritos at home.

Turkey Burrito Bowls

I love burrito bowls, not only because they are low carb, but because they take hardly any ingredients. You could substitute the turkey for chicken or pork or ground beef, just depending on what you have. Black beans could be changed out for kidney or pinto beans. You get the picture ;)

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 lb ground turkey (or any other meat)
• 1 cup uncooked Minute Rice
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups salsa
• 2 Tsp taco seasoning (I used half of those little packets)
• 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 1 15 oz can corn, halfway drained
• 2 cups diced tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp S&P
• 1/2 - 3/4 c. grated cheese 
• Chives, green onions, or cilantro for topping

Over medium heat, in a skillet, cook the onion and ground turkey. The turkey should be cooked until it's no longer pink. Drain off any fat, then push the turkey to one side of the skillet. Add the rice and toast for about 1 minute.

Add the broth, rice, 1 cup salsa, 1 cup diced tomatoes, taco seasoning, corn, and the beans. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Season with salt and pepper. If it starts to dry up, just add a little more broth. Turn off the burner.

Mix in the cheese. It will melt with the heat.

Serve in individual bowls and garnish with the remaining tomatoes, salsa, and chives. You can also garnish it with fresh avocado, and lettuce.

NOTE: If using long grain brown rice, it will need to be cooked in advance. Uncle Ben's 10 minute brown rice was used in this recipe.

So tasty! I do have a confession though, I accidentally added CURRY to my bowl - lesson learned. Don't try and get creative by blending cultures. CURRY + TACO seasoning = no bueno. 

As I was writing this post Con said, "Hey, make sure you put in your blog post, not to add curry." Consider yourself warned! 

I love seeing all the colors of the veggies

Awwww....summer fruit is my fav. 

I always add WAY more cheese than necessary. 

YUM! 

Original from Skinny Ms. 

Topic: Canva - Desktop or Mobile

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite apps in the entire world: Canva. First, however, let me clarify that I am by no means a designer. I have never taken a design course and I have utmost respect for those individuals who understand all of the Adobe Suite. But what I do love being able to do, is quickly put text over an image for social media or personal use. Never would I recommend using Canva for major design projects, unless your budget is very very limited.

That being said, I wanted to dive into the program, both in it's desktop/online usability and the mobile friendly version.

I first discovered Canva when doing a class project my sophomore year in college. I ended up falling in love with its abilities and began using it for other projects. What I love about Canva is how simple it makes design, for those of us just wanting to keep it simple. On the desktop version, it comes with many different templates to start off with including social media posts, resumes, invitations, you name it. I love that you can also make your designs public and other people on the Canva community can see what you're doing. It also comes with the option to change font, edit the pictures, change colors, and is super easy to learn and use. It also allows you to use grid locks to center your art and text, making it as visually appealing as possible. I have used Canva for over a year now and love it for both office and home purposes.

This summer I began wishing that they made it available for iPhones so that it would be easier to upload images and make quick Instagram posts. In the fall Canva launched their mobile app. I was initially excited to begin playing with it and was among the first of it's users to be notified of the changes. If that doesn't show you how much I use it I don't know what will.

The first thing I noticed was how limited the app was. It's hard to navigate a tiny little screen with only your fingers. My designs never look good on it, and the photo editing capabilities are zilch. It takes a lot of skill to pick the aspect of your design that you want to work with. It's also hard to see what the fonts will look like when designing or even choose the right size.

Some apps could maybe get away with both a desktop and mobile version, take Facebook for instance, but Canva is not one of them. Needless to say, I quickly deleted the app.

Salsa Verde Chicken Pasta

Oh. My. Gosh. This pasta from Kevin and Amanda is SO good. It's easy, fast, and doesn't take many ingredients. It has become one of our go-to dinners. 

Ingredients: 

• 3-4 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (If you are trying to save money, you can exclude this)
• 2 TB olive oil 
• 2 c. chicken broth
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream 
• 2 cups of penne pasta
• S&P to taste
• 2 c. pepper jack cheese 

1. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces (about 1-inch cubes). Season with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is very hot, add the chicken in a single layer. Cook for 5 minutes, until golden brown, flipping once halfway through. Remove to a plate and set aside.
2. Add the broth, salsa verde, cream, uncooked pasta, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Cover, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, then add the chicken and 1 1/2 cup of cheese to the skillet. Stir until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour into into oven-safe pan. I used a stone-wear 8x8 pan. Top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and broil in the oven until golden brown and bubbly, about 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy!! :)

Please bear with me as I still am still learning my camera. It was just too tasty of a dinner not to share. 

I know that I have half n half pictured here but I ended up not using it

Just so yummy. I can't help it. *insert heart eye emoji here*