Monthly Pinspiration

It's the most wonderful time of the year. I love the Christmas music, decorations, homemade goodies from neighbors, parties with friends, and all the fun holiday festivities with the family. 

I was so inspired this month that I am sharing three more pins: 

8 Tutorials to Get Beautiful Holiday Photos

Source: Kevin & Amanda

Their website has a ton of tips, tricks, and advice on photography, plus a lot of other fun stuff. Find the post about creating your own beautiful holiday photos, here.

Found on my Pinterest Board "Photography Ideas" 

How To Make Your Own Wreath

Source: Fellow Fellow

I love this pin. It shows step-by-step instructions on how to make a wreath using fresh plants. Find out how to make your very own wreath, here.

Found on my Pinterest Board "Winter Holidays"

Gingerbread Snowflakes

Source: Chasing Delicious

I love homemade gingerbread cookies! They are one of my favorite holiday treats. This lovely website gives you a recipe for gingerbread cookies as well as illustrations on how to decorate them like perfect snowflakes. Find the recipe, here.

Found on my Pinterest Board "Winter Holidays"

You can find me (and follow me) on Pinterest, here.

Homemade Turkey Dinner Dog Treats

One of my favorite things to make at Christmas time are dog treats. All of my family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors know this about me. I just feel like our furry friends need a treat for Christmas, too. 

Dogs go crazy for this recipe. It's super easy to make and only takes a few simple ingredients. The secret ingredient: Baby Food. There is nothing artificial added to baby food and it's already cooked, pureed, and ready to add to your recipe.

The dog bone cookie cutters can be found at Petsmart. Now you are ready to get started.

Homemade Turkey Dinner Dog Treats

1 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Cornmeal
1/2 cup Quick Oats
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
2  3.5 oz. Containers of Sweet Potato and Turkey Baby Food (see above)
1 Egg
1/4 cup Water (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together - flour, corn meal, oats, and garlic powder. Then add wet ingredients - baby food and egg. Add water only if dough is really dry - add slowly until desired texture. Mix well until a ball of dough forms.

Roll dough out until it is about 1/3-inch to 1/2-inch thick. My dough was sticky so I put flour on the counter top and rolling pin. Cut shapes. Press dough back together, roll out, and cut again. Repeat until you are out of dough.

Put dog treats on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. 

Then hand out delicious treats to all the favorite dogs in your life. Tell them to refrigerate them if they aren't going to eat them right away - but if they are like my dogs, they will never make it to the refrigerator. Enjoy! 

Monthly Pinspiration

I am a huge fan of Pinterest. I absolutely love spending time going through all of the amazing pins and getting inspiration to try new recipes, make new crafts, and travel to new, fun places. I thought that since I have so many wonderful pins (well, I think they are wonderful), that I would share three of them a month, which I will call "Monthly Pinspiration." 

Here are three pins that inspired me this month: 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Source: Bakerella

Original Source: Love and Olive Oil (The Cookie Dough Lovers Cookbook)

I made these today and they were very simple to make and incredibly delicious. Find the recipe, here.

Found on my Pinterest Board "Party and Event Ideas"

Handmade Holiday | Woodland Wrapping

Source: Odessa May Society

I love this. It's simple, pretty, and probably smells really good. 

Find out how to create this beautiful gift wrapping, here.  

Found on my Pinterest Board "Winter Holidays"

Enjoy The Little Things

Original Source: Unknown 

I just love this saying. I think that especially this time of year we need to just relax, slow down, and enjoy the little things, too. 

Found on my Pinterest Board "Words To Live By"

You can find me (and follow me) on Pinterest, here. 

Top Five: Favorite Drinks On-The-Go

When I'm heading out for a day on the town or even a trip to the grocery store I usually make sure that I have my reusable cup filled with ice and water. But when my water is gone or I feel like something else then I usually grab one of the following delicious, healthy, and quenching drinks: 

Evolution Fresh Juice

Evolution Fresh juices are delicious fruit and/or veggie blends that can be found at Starbucks. They are made up of only fresh cold-pressed fruits and vegetables with no other added ingredients. I love all of the different flavors.

Roxberry Green Smoothie 

The green smoothies offered at Roxberry were created by the Green Smoothie Girl, Robyn Openshaw. She is a nutrition coach, public speaker, and bestselling author. You can find her website, here. Green Smoothie Girl recommends drinking green smoothies to detoxify the body, lose weight, increase energy, prevent heart disease, lower cholesterol, and boost the immune system. My favorite green smoothie at Roxberry is the 32 oz. Green Smoothie Girl Original which has 200 calories and 15 servings of raw fruits and veggies (15!!) and 12 grams of fiber. It has spinach, kale, mixed berries, peaches, bananas, and agave. 

Smart Water 

My favorite bottled water is Smart Water. It tastes clean and fresh and I drink a lot of it. 

Mamma Chia

Mamma Chia, the original chia seed drink, provides a complete nutritional profile of omega-3, balanced dietary fiber, complete protein, antioxidants, and minerals. They are all-natural and fairly low in calories. I have tried most of the flavors and have loved all of them. Read more about why I love chia seeds, here. Find my homemade smoothie recipe made with chia seeds, here. (I now add chia seeds to every smoothie I make.)

Silk Pure Almond Dark Chocolate

Silk Pure Almond Milk in Dark Chocolate is one of my guilty pleasures. I drink almond milk on a daily basis, but the chocolate almond milk is a treat. It's rich and creamy and perfect for on the go since it doesn't need to be refrigerated. Although I do recommend drinking it chilled. 

Trader Joe's Has Arrived

My very, very favorite grocery store in the whole wide world finally opened their first store in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was more excited for this grand opening than I was for Black Friday - which is a lot. My Mom and I arrived just in time for the ribbon cutting and then as the crowd (a couple hundred people) went wild we were let inside. It took a long time to reach the door where we received a lei and an awesome welcome from the TJ's staff. The aisles were so congested we couldn't move or see anything but it was so worth it.

Today my Mom, Ella, and I went back so we could buy more. It was still crazy busy and there were a lot of products out-of-stock, but I got a ton of fun TJ products to try. I was so excited that for the first time I could by freezer foods since I couldn't buy them and bring them back to Utah when we were out of town. (The freezer section is one of the biggest since our store doesn't carry alcohol.)

As we were checking out we asked if it was true that our TJ's grand opening broke records, the cashier replied "No, it didn't break it records - it shattered them!"

TJ's will definitely be a weekly trip for us. Our store is amazing.