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Tazo Chai Tea
Food Living Recipes

morning devotion + chai tea + a cookie recipe

Starbucks and Unlikely Martha have teamed up to bring you this post. I’m a coffee drinker by nature, I’m trying out the tea life. Yes, I was compensated for this post.

This second week of school has been progressively better than last week when it comes to me not having to drag myself out of the bed in the morning and propping my eyelids open with toothpicks in the afternoon.

I’m in the process of confirming wholesalers, creating a marketing plan and deciding on inventory for my new online store that will go live on September 1 (more about that later) so my days have been rather long. Uneasiness started to creep in last week and I realized that I had gotten away from my devotional/quiet time in the morning that brought me so much peace throughout the day.

While I haven’t been much of a tea drinker outside of sweet tea, I’ve always had this thought that tea somehow had a calming and soothing factor that it’s cousin coffee does not. Starbucks was so kind to send me a few goodies that included tea, a fun mug and a recipe for Cinnamon Tea cookies. In preparation for my new weekly goal of getting up early for a little quiet time, I figured this was the perfect time to try out my gifts and make those cookies.

Tazo Chai Tea

 

Tazo Chai Tea

Sunday I whipped up the cookie recipe with the intent of dipping them in my Chai tea, and that is just what I did early Monday morning. At 4:50a  instead of hitting the snooze button, I rose with a purpose setting my day on a great trajectory by filling my thoughts with positive messages and images. I started with a warm cup of tea and probably one too many of those cookies but it was 5a. sooooo……….

Tazo Chai Tea

The cookies aren’t really the consistency of regular cookies but more like a biscuit, perfect for breakfast. Like really good.

Tazo Chai Tea

 

Tazo Chai Tea

Fall is coming, these cookies paired with Chai tea make the perfect snack for a book club meeting, or a cool evening spent chatting with a good friend. Or just eating, the options are endless and the cookies are delicious. Try them for yourself.

Padma Lakshmi’s Cinnamon Tea Cookies
Recipe Type: Cookies
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 30 cookies
Ingredients
  • 1 1/3 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 10 tablespoons softened butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375F
  2. Sift all dry ingredients except the sugar together in a bowl
  3. In another bowl, combine sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth
  4. Combine contents of both bowls together to form a cohesive cookie dough
  5. Now, using your hands make small balls about 1 in in diameter with the dough. Place these balls 2 inches apart on a nonstick baking sheet or line a shallow sheet pan with aluminum foil and fill
  6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until medium brown.
  7. Cool on rack and store in airtight container. Should last for 2 weeks

Do you make time for yourself in the morning or in the evening, or none of the above?!

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My Milkshake Up
Food

peach mango milkshakes and a movie + kroger giftcard giveaway

Thank you to Mirum shopper for partnering with Unlikely Martha. I’ve been compensated for this post, but we drink milkshakes and watch movies so this partnership is about as real as it gets.

Earlier in the summer I mentioned that I was devoting certain days of break to certain activities and Mondays were for movies. This week we added milkshakes into the mix. A week at Disney will wreck havoc on one’s pockets so let’s just say DIY milkshakes were right on time.

My son thought long and hard on this one and came up with a peach, mango collab. We ventured out to our neighborhood Kroger to pick up our ingredients. The base of our milkshakes were made with Promised Land Milk (whole version) and Breyers Vanilla ice cream.

My Milkshake Up

I grew up on Breyers, amazing how things bring back nostalgia. We had these real sundae glasses that looked like they came from a real ice cream shop and she would scoop my ice cream out with a stainless steel scooper.

I digress.

Anyway, Breyers tastes today like it did back then. Fresh, and creamy with no artificial growth hormones. Breyers has also vowed to only utilize sustainably harvested vanilla and fruit.

Promised Land Milk was new to me but states it has higher levels of protein and calcium that are void of any artificial growth hormones or antibiotics.

My Milkshake Up

I considered using canned fruit but figured fresh would do better so we washed and cut up our fruit.

My Milkshake Up

I’m not even really sure how to cut a mango. Keeping my fingers out of the way is priority of course but getting around that seed in the middle gets me every time. If you have a better way, do tell.

My Milkshake Up

Topped 1 cup of milk and 3 ish scoops of ice cream with the fresh fruit and hit the blend button. Note, if you want a thicker shake use more ice cream.

My Milkshake Up

 

My Milkshake Up

 

Peach Mango milkshakes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 16oz milkshake
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Promised Land Milk
  • 3 Scoops of Breyers Vanilla Ice Cream
  • 1 Mango
  • 2 Peaches
Instructions
  1. Add ingredients to blender
  2. Blend until desired consistency. For a thicker milkshake add more ice cream

 

Please don’t ask me what happened at the end of the movie. I was asleep. Again, Disney.

Meanwhile they’re laid up, sucking air and drinking milkshakes without a care in the world. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Milkshake Up Your Summer

Be sure to take time out to create fun, hands on memories with your family this Summer. Something as simple as making milkshakes with mom can qualify as a fun summer activity.

Enter to win a $25 gift card to Kroger to help Milkshake up Your Summer! Giveaway is open to US residents only and runs through July 8, 2016. Must be over the age of 18 to win. Please allow 6-8 weeks from the end of campaign to receive gift card. Additional details here. Good Luck!

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Milkshake up Your Summer

 

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Food

summer lunch | Freschetta and Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.  #FreschEats #CollectiveBias

IMG_0570

Seeing as how I started off the first few weeks of school with a variety of lunch options and later defaulted to the good ole handy sandwich, I kind of believe these babies are sandwiched out. With them being home with me during the day for the next few weeks, I’m going to devote some days to actually cooking these babies something warm.

Note I said “some days”

Beef and broccoli and pizza are my clutch go to menu items for those times I don’t feel like cooking or need something quick and easy. If you follow me on Snapchat then you know one of my children is over beef and broccoli so pizza it is. I have a deep freezer and when pizzas go on sale I like to purchase them in bulk and stock up. Publix is currently having a great promotion offering 2 Freschetta Pizzas for $10 that is valid from 5/19- 6/8.

A part of our outing yesterday included going to Publix to pick up a few items and some of those items included pizza.

Freschetta Artisan Pizza

We grabbed a few boxes of Freschetta Brick Oven Crust. Freschetta is focused on the quality ingredients they use in their pizzas, and for their Artisan Crust variety it is all about the 3 whole grains that go into the delicious crust. The Artisan crust option is new to Publix stores so be on the look out for it.

Freschetta Artisan Pizza

 

Freschetta Artisan Pizza

Once we got home I threw together a quick watermelon, cucumber and feta salad to go with their pizza.

This salad is super easy to make you need:

Cucumber Watermelon Salad
Ingredients
  • Watermelon chunks
  • Feta cheese (cubed or crumbled)
  • Cucumbers
  • Balsamic Vinegar
Instructions
  1. Add watermelon, cucumber and feta to a bowl
  2. Add balsamic vinegar to taste
  3. Toss and enjoy!

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added a slice of pizza to the mix and my girl was in heaven.

 

Freschetta has different varieties of pizza to appeal to everyone and serves as a great lunch option for hungry children on Summer vacation. Visit Freschetta online, on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to get recipe and product information.

What are you serving your kids for lunch during the Summer?

 

 

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy
Food

strawberry and banana wine slushy

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BlackBoxSummer #CollectiveBias The following content is intended for readers who are 21 or older.

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy

Sipping cocktails, listening to music and chatting it up with my favorite people is one of my very favorite things to do. Now that my outdoor areas are together I can hardly contain my excitement for the fun Summer evenings that are to come.

I use the term “cocktails” loosely as I prefer mine with wine and fruit, instead of  hard liquor. I worked out a fun fruity slushy for warm evenings with Black Box Wines that I picked up from one of my favorite big box retailers. I used strawberry and banana but you can certainly mix this up to include your favorite fruit or whatever fruit you have on hand.

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy

 

This recipe is for a single serving If you wish to layer the flavors and colors you will need to create two separate batches and adjust to your desired amount

Box wine is the answer for Summer festivals and concerts. Black Box Wines has won over 50 Gold Medals for their quality, and at a price 40% less than comparable bottled wines the homies and I will be sipping good at the Funkfest in a few weeks! Black Box wines are great for transporting without having to worry about glass bottles.

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy

The spout is sturdy, easy to turn and it gives a subtle click to let you know it is fully closed to eliminate the chance of spills.

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy

The amount  in one of these boxes is equivalent to 4 bottles of wine, it can stay fresh for up to 6 weeks and it reduces waste.

Now for the recipe.

While I have provided you with exact measurements  I’m sure your level of desired tipsiness relaxation will dictate how much wine you wish to add.

Tip: I remove the peel and freeze my bananas that are going bad. This is a great way to make sure you always have some frozen fruit on hand.

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy

 

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy

 

 

Strawberry and Banana Wine Slushy
Recipe Type: Cocktail
Author: Mimi
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 6 oz glass
This recipe is for a single serving If you wish to layer the flavors and colors you will need to create two separate batches, pour one flavor over the other and adjust to your desired amount
Ingredients
  • 3 oz Frozen fruit
  • 4 oz Chardonnay
  • Ice
Instructions
  1. Mix frozen fruit with Chardonnay
  2. Blend. If you want a thicker consistency continue to add ice and blend.
  3. Pour
  4. Enjoy

Entertaining can be as simple. For more tips on simplifying your social gatherings this Summer head over to Simple Entertaining Social Hub