EATLIVEWEARWANTLIFEREAD

8/15/2013

FIVE FALL FAVORITES...



You guys... I'm SO ready for fall. It's my favorite season of the year in terms of the weather AND fashion. The air is crisp and fresh and the fashion is fabulous. Can't wait! Blacks, browns and golds are my favorite fall colors and these are a few things that I've got my eyes on. That clutch has been a favorite of mine since last year and this year I just might bite the bullet... I've always loved anything tortoise, but I must say that my love for dragonflies is new. I've seen dragonfly prints and jewelry in the fall magazines and I like them! They make such a pretty little statement... 

Are you just as excited for fall as I am?? 
Pin It

8/13/2013

CHOCOLATE CHIP PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL SKILLET COOKIE


Well thank goodness for blog post titles. If it weren't for them, you might be thinking, "What in the WORLD is that??" Well that, my friends, is simply a huge, amazing cookie that is baked in a skillet. It's sinfully delicious - like for real sinful. It's gooey. It's chocolate-y. It's my new favorite dessert. Like - for real.

I found this dessert on Pinterest and I was itching to whip out my skillet the minute I saw it. I've seen a few recipes that involve making a cookie in a skillet, but nothing like this one. This one has it all - peanut butter, oats, chocolate, butter AND sweetened condensed milk. Everyone knows that anything with sweetened condensed milk is pretty much a winner...

And this was a winner people. I made this and photographed it whole before I dug in. That seemed like the longest few minutes of my life! It smelled insanely good. Once I dug in, I saw that the sweetened condensed milk turned into a a caramel-like sauce. That sauce mixed with the melted chocolate, peanut butter and the crunch of the oat topping - I swear it is one of the BEST things I've ever tasted. If you love those sweet things and easy to make desserts, then you must whip out your skillet and make this. 

Here is what you need and what to do:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned whole oats (regular, not quick cooking)
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
ice cream

1/ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray an oven-safe 10 in skillet with cooking spray or brush it with melted butter. Set aside.

2/ Add the melted butter, egg, sugar and vanilla to a large bowl and whisk for about 1 minute or until the batter is fluffed. Add the flour, salt and baking soda and stir with a spatula until just incorporated. Add the oats and stir until combined.

3/ Add a little less than 3/4's of the batter to skillet. The batter will be a little sticky, so have a little patience in spreading it out. Slightly wet hands will help with the process. Reserve the remaining batter and set the skillet aside.

4/ In a small bowl, whisk the sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter together until smooth. Pour the mixture over the dough in the skillet.

5/ Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top of the condensed milk mixture.

6/ Drop tablespoon-sized chunks of the reserved dough over the chocolate chips in the skillet. This will form a crust over the top of the cookie, so drop the dough as uniformly as possible.

7/ Bake for about 25 minutes or until the edges of the cookie are slightly crisp. The center of the cookie will be very gooey, but it will set as cools in the skillet.

**This cookie tastes heavenly in not one - but two ways. It tastes amazing right out of the oven with a dollop of ice cream on top. But once it cools completely, you can slide it out of the skillet, cut it up into bars and store it in a sealed container for up to 3 days or so. I served it to my co-workers in the form of bars and they LOVED it!

Enjoy!

For a healthier cookie, substitute the peanut butter for almond butter, flour with quinoa flour and oats with a 5-grain blend!

Images by me
Pin It

8/12/2013

AROUND MY HOUSE + A QUICK DSLR CAMERA TIP...


{World Market Oversized Carrier Tub Basket in the front of my living room fireplace...}

Hi!!! I hope you had a good weekend. The number of exclamation marks you just saw explains how good my weekend was. On Friday & Saturday, I got some good shopping in for fall, had two great dinners with two great friends, had a fantastic Pilates workout, got a mani-pedi (this polish is my new favorite) and just relaxed. Good times...

On Sunday, the lighting in my house was crazy. It would go from totally sunny outside to totally cloudy outside in a matter of seconds, so I thought I would get some practice time in with my camera.  These are a few of my favorite little spots and details in my home. Quick camera tip: If you are looking to learn how to use your DSLR camera using the Manual mode, then taking pictures indoors when the light is constantly changing outdoors will give you some great practice. You have to constantly and quickly adjust the settings to get the right photo. So if you have a little time and a lot of patience, refer to the chart in this post and practice! I'm still practicing myself. Certain areas of my guest bedroom, which I just finished decorating, has strange lighting all the time. So once I figure all that out, I will be sure to show you how the room turned out!

I hope your week is off to a great start! Oh - if you love chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, peanut butter and caramel, check back here tomorrow. I've got something for ya... :)


{Soft light in the guest bedroom...}

{Pottery Barn Pocket Watch Clock in the guest bedroom...}

{Not house related - but a FABULOUS article I read this weekend by Barnard College president, Deborah Spar, in this month's issue of Glamour magazine. It's about women trying to do it all - all perfectly that is. Loved those last two sentences (circled)...}


Pin It

8/09/2013

FRESH + CLEAN + LINKS...


Well how was your week?? I hope it was good! Like every week, I'm elated to see the weekend. My work weeks are about to get a tad bit busier, so I plan to enjoy every second of this weekend. Pilates, a mani-pedi, two dinners with two good friends, tackling my growing magazine stack and a Sunday N-A-P. It's gonna be good! :) Here are some good links for you and have a lovely weekend!

My name is Tiffany and I'm an introvert. I've always known that, but this blog post confirmed it even more. It perfectly describes how I often feel. Can you relate?

Needs vs. wants. Hilarious...

This was about people in their 20's, but I'm in my 30's and apparently I have some things to work on...

Love her pretty blog. Love her pretty office.

Perfect for fall...

Gazpacho soup. A peach one... Love it.

There are so many good lifestyle websites out there, but I just discovered my new favorite site this week...

I'm totally recommending this to my married girlfriends who have kids. Such a great idea....

In case you get thirsty this weekend...

Or in case you need some inspiration this weekend...

Image via
Pin It

8/08/2013

A DAY OF INSPIRATION...


So last night, I was going through my Pinterest boards searching for inspiration for future posts. I wound up spending more time browsing through my "Lovely Quotes" board more than any of my other boards. I don't know about you, but I'm just as attracted to pictures of quotes on Pinterest as I am a picture of the perfectly designed space or perfectly styled dessert. I enjoy finding confirmation that I am thinking the right way and that I'm headed in the right direction. That makes me feel validated. I also look to these quotes to inspire me to get through the next minute, day or week - which means I look at this board often. At times I often worry about something bad that may or may not ever happen, get impatient about why the good things aren't happening fast enough, forget to find the positive in the negative - you know, the feelings that the events of everyday life bring to light. These are a few quotes that I love that address those thoughts and have helped me during my little moments. They are simply put and in plain black and white, which inspires me just as much as the quote. That tells me that life can be simple as long as we choose to think of it that way.  



Pin It

8/06/2013

THE BEST PARTY PUNCH... EVER.

So this, my friends, is the Best Party Punch... Ever. In all honesty, I posted this punch here a few years ago, but it's so good that it deserved to be posted again with new pictures. I made this punch for the baby sprinkle I hosted this past Saturday and pretty much everyone that had it came up to me and asked me for the recipe. I made this a few years ago for another baby shower I hosted. I did a search online for baby shower punch and ended up piecing together a few recipes that I liked. This one is fresh and fruity with the perfect amount of effervescence. It's also easy to make which is always a huge plus for me when it comes to parties...




Here is what you need and what to do (makes about a gallon):

1 cup frozen concentrated lemonade (thawed)
6 oz  frozen concentrated orange juice (thawed)
2 cups cranberry juice
3 cups water
1/4 cup super fine sugar
2 liters lemon-lime soda, chilled
Freshly sliced lemons and oranges
Ice

Add the lemonade, orange juice, cranberry juice, water and sugar to a container that has a lid. Stir until all of the sugar is dissolved. Cover and chill the mixture for 1-2 hours. When you are ready to serve the punch, add the mixture to a drink server along with the soda, ice, lemons and oranges. Stir and enjoy!

** If you are hosting a party where alcohol is appropriate, then a few splashes of vodka would be really good!!

Images by me
Pin It

8/05/2013

A BABY "SPRINKLE" + A FREE PRINTABLE!



Hi there! I hope you had a great weekend! So, question. Did you know that a small baby shower for a mother who will be a mom for the 2nd time is called a "sprinkle??" Neat right? I had no idea until a group of friends and I started planning this sprinkle for our friend. We hosted it at my house on Saturday and it was so fun! Since it was a sprinkle, we kept it simple and had a "sprinkle" theme. Multicolored balloons, M&Ms, straws and flowers were scattered about. The food was also simple and SO delicious. We had silver dollar stacked pancakes, mini quinoa breakfast cups, turkey and cheese pinwheels (from Costco) and fresh fruit. The cake was a stacked Krispy Kreme chocolate sprinkled doughnut cake. Sinfully delicious... Equally as delicious was the punch. I get rave reviews every time I make this punch and I'd be crazy if I didn't share the recipe with you. It's coming up tomorrow!

Oh! The favors. The favors were simple as well. I put some M&Ms in small shallow mason jars. Most people love M&M's and the jar could be used for other purposes.  I'm all for favors that can be reused! I created the thank you logo in Photoshop and taped it to the lids using double-sided tape. If you scroll down, you can save the logo and print it off for free! Happy Monday!


Here is the free printable! Enjoy!



Images by me
Pin It

8/02/2013

A BEAUTY OF A BUNGALOW...

Hi there! TGIF my friends! I couldn't be more excited as this was quite a week! It was so busy that I didn't have much time to look for links of the week. So instead, I have this GORGEOUS home tour for you. This bungalow is located in Mount Pleasant, SC, which is located right outside of Charleston, SC.  I'd move there tomorrow if I could. A plus would be moving in a home that looks just like this one. It's open, it's bright and I adore the simple design. It's not over-accessorized, which I actually love. I think the beautiful lighting compensates for the minimal styling.  Love it all. The lottery is almost $300M here and the drawing is this weekend. So if you don't hear from me on Monday, I might be in Mount Pleasant searching for a home just.like.this.one. :)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I will see you here next week!

Architect: Heather A. Wilson, Styling & Design: Jenn Langston
Found via: Dustjacket Attic

Pin It
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...