Strawberry Honey Grass Jelly

Ever crave something sweet that isn't too heavy? Or something that just hits you just right? Well, you got to give this grass jelly a try. It's SUPER easy, no joke. So all you need 3 simple ingredients.

1. Grass Jelly
2. Strawberries
3. Honey or condensed milk
4. Mint (if you want to kick it up a notch)

Okay, so grass jelly a not the easiest thing to find. Where do you find it? Well, you can find it at you local Asian food market or more popular know 99 ranch market. It will cost you $1.00- $3.00. Pop the can open and dice away. You can do large cubes or small cubes. If you want to get fancy, you can even slice them and use a cookie cutter. But of course I just stuck to tiny cubes. Slice and dice some fruit and added some honey. I later decided to use condensed milk instead and…wow…I'm in heaven! So next time your craving something light and with a little tart kick, give this a try. Sweet cooking, enjoy!

Simple Minestrone Soup

I just got my braces this week, wooo ya! Not really :( and I have been struggling with what to eat. It has been a cold winter  so why not some Minestrone Soup? Well, I decided to give it a shot and it wasn't that hard to make. It so simple and it's such a great "pick me up". Never going back to can soup again.

Recipe: Minestrone Soup                   Portions: ~6

Ingredients:

Onions~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~half an onion diced

Garlic~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2-3 cloves minced

Celery~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3-4 stalks diced

Baby carrots~~~~~3/4 cups chopped 

Tomatoes ~~~~~~~~~~~1.5 tomatoes diced 

Green beans~~~~~~~~~2/3 or 1 cup diced
Pasta ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 cup

Chicken broth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 can

Kidney beans~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 can

Dried basil, oregano, salt, pepper ~~~~to taste

Okay, it looks like a overwhelming list on ingredients, but i promise the hardest part is gathering them, once you got them you're on your way to a delicious soup. 

1. Mince garlic, dice the onions, celery, baby carrot, green beans and tomatoes.

2. Boil the pasta on the side while you cook your veggies.

3. Add a little oil to coat the pan, place the minced garlic, and onions into the pan. Sauté until translucent. 

4. Add in seasonings to taste (You will add it again later so don't over do it here).

5. Add celery, carrots, green beans and cook for a few minutes.

6. Check on your pasta and when ready, drain.

7. Now check if you veggies are all sautéed, if they are add diced tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.

8. Add chicken soup to the pot

9. Add kidney beans and bring to a boil

10. Season to your liking and "Voila"! Done!

Place in a bowl to serve or eat straight out of the pot. Take caution because it is hot. If you like your veggies softer or crispier adjust your cooking time to your liking. Don't forget that if you leave it for the next day it even better, but your pasta size will double from the soup absorption. Since I could chew most of the ingredients I added some more time to it and the second day it was so easy to eat :)

Time to warm your stomachs. Happy cooking and enjoy :)

UP! Nail Art.

Winter sickness is not fun, however, being bored and unable to do anything else, I needed a pick me up. Literally and pick me UP…hehe. Inspired by my all time favorite cartoon, UP, I painted away. Unfortunately there are no step to step photos, but a pretty simple design that any one can do. The hardest part was the house, but I do my best to guide you through.

First paint the background a light blue and let dry. Easy right? Ok, now here's the hard part I cut tape the shape of the house and and placed it on my dry nail, outlined and remove the tape when dry. Using a tooth pick to fill in the house and draw the details…the house was made. The rest was pretty simple. The balloons are just dabbed on with a bobby pin and the clouds were literally randomly painted with the nail brush. The clouds are supposed to be unorganized and random, so just go with it. Add a top coat and your done. It may take some practice, but once it is done, you love it regardless. These put me in a good mood everyday. Happy painting!

Dandelions Canvas Painting: Make a Wish

Used: Acrylic Paint and Canvas board

Whenever I see dandelions I think of wishes.  Closing your eyes, making a wish, and seeing the dandelion seeds float away feels like your sending your wish to someone. Adventually it will touch someone and your wish will be heard.

Next time your outside close your eyes, enjoy the breeze and make a wish. Maybe you'll touch someone. ^.^

DIY Neon Yellow Little Owls slip ons.

So it pouring rain here so to get myself in the summer mood and more cheerful I bought these SUPER bright yellow slip ons at target. For the first time I realized that I could fit into a kids size. So I got a little excited and started trying all these kids shoes, I felt a little silly and felt like people were staring, even though I know no one cares…Annnyways lets get started.

Just grab a pair of your favor canvas sneakers,  fabric markers and that’s it! Simple right. So lately I've seen lot of cute owl designs and want to create a simple version of my own, but when I finished and wore them EVERYONE thought there little cats. :( But its okay because they look like little owls to me. 

So grabs some shoes and get started on your own! Enjoy! :)

My Little Garden

PURPLE CAULIFLOWER: YUMMY^o^

TRICOLOR CHRYSANTHEMUMS

Other RANDOM flowers:

SUCCULENT FLOWERS: Interesting tower a mini yellow flowers. 

BLEEDING HEARTS: Very Cute and unique, everyone should consider adding this to their garden

YELLOW SNAP DRAGONS : The really cool thing about this is the really do look like little dragons when you push the petals down ^-^ (Which really amused me) ^-^

ALOE FLOWERS: Very vibrant. They always bring the humming birds.

 SRING IS HERE *YEAH* This little daffodils are my favorite with a little pink/orange hue.

LETTUCE, ARUGULA, AND SPINACH! :) However, the weather has tricked my Arugulas into blooming. Guess I'll have to try again next time.

This is my MANDRIN KUMQUAT. I initially wanted a regular Kumquat tree but when I went to the nursery we grab this one and found out we go 20% off and were super excited. ^o^ Then when we went to repot it we finally looked and the tag and realize what we bought. O.o LOL. Still very nice and fragrant with fairly larger fruits, but not as sweet. 

AND Saving the best for last MR. SUNFLOWER. Theres a funny story behind this one. During the summer we planted these in pots and transplanted them and they didn't do so well, so we removed them at the end of the season. Unknowably dropping the seeds on the ground. In the middle of fall there a seedling popping out and we create a barrier to protect it thinking it was something precious that we planted (such and something ediable). As it get bigger I look at it and realize it the sun flowers!!! But since we had nothing new to plant we left it there and it grew into this huge thing. Since the wasn't in season it face the house instead of the street and my friend called it the "EMO SUNFLOWER". Who would of known that the sunflower could get this big in the winter...

Cherry Blossom

It's my very first painting so don't laugh. I experimented with a bunch of colors and the background changed from yellow, red, orange, to pink, green and blue and this is what happened. I really wanted it to be a sunset background but it didn't quite make the cherry blossom stand out so I used a darker shade.

You should try picking up some paints and see what you end up with, even if you don't like your painting like myself...if feels really good to paint. I was actually going for a more realistic flower with water drops but I just couldn't get that result. BUT it okay. I still like it in the end. Get started on your own and see what you end up painting :)