Trader Joe's Grocery Haul

Hey everyone,  happy Monday! An alarming amount of you wanted to see a Trader Joe's round up, so here it is! I'm just going to take your through my staples and can give you some recipe ideas with some of the items. 

First, I will go through all of my favorite sauces/toppings since these are usually my favorites to make meals off of and Trader Joe's has literally some of the best grocery store sauces/dips out there.

First is their Tzatziki dip. It's super low fat/low cal and is great for chicken pitas or my personal favorite, greek meatballs and jasmine rice (shout out to Tish for the great recipe). It's super creamy and light, I pick it up every time I go.

 Next is a new find of mine. I'm usually not a big fan of red sauces. Creamy and pesto are where it's at for me, but I am in love with this vodka sauce of theirs. I've used it on Banza noodles with some ground turkey meatballs and it was such an easy meal and super tasty. Life hack if you like a little spice to your red sauces like I do; dump some red pepper flakes into the sauce while heating to give it a little extra zing.

 One of my favorite sauces from Trader Joe's is their enchilada sauce. For all of you who voted for the enchilada recipe this is a staple for that meal. It is really good and really cheap. What else could you ask for?

 This balsamic glaze is amazing. I've used it on top of caprese garlic bread and caprese chicken. It's thick and delicious and a little goes a long way. Definitely a great item to have.

Also, these two pestos always come home with me after a Trader Joe's run. On the left is more of a traditional pesto and the on the right is a healthier version which if you follow me on Instagram, you've heard me talk about it. Both are very delicious and great on pasta, chicken, or really anything.

I am obsessed with Mexican food and this pico is always a must have for my meals. I love it on top of my enchilada recipe, tacos bowls, fajitas, or just as a side with some of TJ's blue corn tortilla chips. It is so fresh and so tasty. They also have a mild version, but honestly the"hot"version barely even has a kick to it and tastes more flavorful to me.

This garlic oil is a new find. I used it as a dipping sauce with one of Trader Joe's baguettes; so yummy and great for Italian dinner nights or with some bread, wine, and cheese nights.

One of Trader Joe's number one selling products is their Everything but the Bagel Seasoning. I could eat this on literally anything, but my favorite is on top of toast with butter or on avocado toast. I also love their garlic salt mixture. I use it on top of almost all meats I cook. Both are also extremely cheap for how much you get.

Next are some of the staple meat products I pick up while there. I always pick up at least two packages of their ground turkey. It's so cheap and I feel like so much tastier than most grocery store brands of ground turkey. I also have been liking their fresh boneless salmon (Alaskan and Atlantic). It's a tad pricy, but you get decent portions for the price. 

Lastly, I have been picking up the shaved beef steak for Asian beef bowls and it's perfect for it. I top that meal with Trader Joe's sweet chili sauce and it is super delicious.

I have a few frozen favorites from Trader Joe's. I love their frozen mac and cheese meals. I typically pick up the reduced guilt one to have on hand for days I'm too lazy to pack a lunch for work. Super convenient and super tasty. If you want a more filling option get the non-guilt free option they have.

 This has become another super popular TJ favorite. The cauliflower gnocchi is so good ONLY if you pan fry it in some oil stovetop. Do not follow the instructions on the package unless mushy blobs are your kind of food. Top this with the vodka sauce or one of the pestos I mentioned earlier and you have a really quick tasty meal. 

Their chicken fried rice is good and great for a quick dinner night when you want minimal dishes and minimal effort.

Lastly, their chili lime chicken burgers are another frozen isle favorite. Fry it in a pan for a few minutes on each side, throw it on a bun topped with some guac and veggies, and you have a real tasty filling burger for minimal effort.

One thing I buy every single time I go to Trader Joe's are Perfect Bars. My favorites are chocolate brownie and peanut butter chocolate chip. They seriously are SO good and I love them for a quick breakfast or after a workout.

My three guilty pleasures from Trader Joe's are their cinnamon rolls, dark chocolate with caramel and sea salt bar and dark chocolate peanut butter cups. You guys, hands down the best cinnamon roll you will get from a can ever. I am obsessed. As for the peanut butter cups and chocolate bar, I love buying them to just have a sweet treat on hand around the house. Both are perfect to have a small bite to curb sweet tooth cravings.

Another item I never leave without is their spinach tortillas. I use them for everything; breakfast tacos, my enchilada recipe, tacos, wraps, or quesadillas. If I need a tortilla, I am using these. They don't really have a spinach taste to them, especially when mixed with whatever else you are putting on it. They also are only 100 calories per tortilla, which isn't too bad compared to others.

I also love the dried fruit section. I have found lemon and orange slices that are perfect for adding into mixed drinks to make them a little more festive and fun.

Other things I buy at Trader Joe's while there:

-Produce (really reasonably priced)

-Jasmine rice

-Shredded cheeses (love the pepperjack and sharp cheddar)

-Blocks of cheese for cheese boards (very reasonable priced)

-Frozen brown rice (quick to make) 

-Wine (they have so many cheap wines that are SO good)

-Sun dried tomatoes

-Cooking oil

-Nuts

Lastly, I wanted to touch on their flower section. Trader Joe's always has beautiful bouquets and greenery for unbelievably cheap prices. You can get a dozen roses for 6.99 and branches of greenery for $2.99. Such a steal and they last a lot longer than most flowers.

Well that's all I have for this little round up. I hope if you are an avid TJ shopper like myself, you found some new things from this list to try. If you never really shop there, this should be a good start for things to try! Let me know if you guys have any suggestions of things you have loved from Trader Joe's. Have a great week friends!

xo H

Easter "Bunny" Chow

Happy Thursday, friends! It has been a bit since my last post, but I am back today bringing you a 15 minute recipe I found that will be a real crowd pleaser this Easter weekend. I found the recipe while browsing on Pinterest the other day and thought it was too cute not to try out for the upcoming holiday. The original recipe is linked here by Urban Simplicity. As always, I tweaked the recipe more to my liking which I will explain as we go on.

Above you will see everything required for this recipe except for the extra ingredient I added at the end. 

What her recipe requires:

-9 cups Crispix cereal

- 1 cup of white chocolate chips (you also could use milk chocolate)

-1/2 cup peanut butter

-1 tsp of vanilla extract

-1/4 cup of butter

-1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

How I made it:

I put the Crispix cereal into a large bowl and set it aside while I made the coating for the bunny chow. Her recipe called for 1 cup of chocolate chips, but I added about a half cup more and combined the 1.5 cups of chocolate chips, the half cup of peanut butter, and the 1/4 stick of butter after putting it into a bowl and melting it in the microwave for a minute. When it was done heating, I mixed until it was completely smooth in consistency and then added in the vanilla just as she did in the original recipe. 

I then took the mixture and poured it over the Crispix and mixed it in until the cereal was evenly coated.

When it was fully coated, I took the the bag that the cereal came in, poured a cup of powdered sugar at the bottom of it, and then dumped the coated cereal on top of it. She mentioned using a 2 gallon freezer bag to mix it; whereas my sister has always used a large paper bag. I tried to save on bags and just reused the one the Crispix came in. Anything will work, so long as the bag is big enough. Once the mixture is in the bag of your choosing, you will pour another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar on top and shake until the sugar coats your cereal mixture.

Once fully shaken/coated, you will lay out your chow onto wax paper until your chocolate/peanut butter mixture cools. This part is important so that it doesn't turn into a giant blob in the container you store it in. Once finished, she recommends storing the bunny chow in an air tight container and also refrigerated.

 Once cooled, add in the mini Cadbury eggs. And for my extra ingredient... cut up a few Reese's peanut butter eggs.  I'm not sure about you, but I can not think of a better way to finish off this bunny chow recipe than to sprinkle some of those peanut butter cups into the mixture. And let's be serious, we all know the egg Reese's version is best.

Lastly, serve it up and enjoy! Have a great Easter weekend everyone. Until next time..

xo H

DIY Bar

Hey everyone, welcome back! This weeks post has more home decor and even a fun spring/ summer drink recipe! I'm going to show you how to make a super affordable bar/ bar "cart" concept. One thing people seem to comment on most when they visit my apartment is my little bar set up. The best part is, it could not be any easier to make. I started this little bar concept in college and have just upgraded the look over the years. It also is a great staple piece for holidays to decorate which I will also show you throughout this post. 

Let's starts with the structure. Many people who have at home bar carts usually spend roughly 100 dollars on the cart itself. My whole bar is made off of a 9 cube storage unit that I bought on sale for 30 dollars at Target. I will link a few options throughout the post. I then decided a theme so everything looked cohesive with each other. My apartment is filled with greys so I decorated with rose golds/copper and gold to give it a little extra pop to stand out amongst my other decor. Just like that, you guys you have your whole "bar" concept done. Next is just picking out the materials. In our place, we love wine, mixed drinks, and moscow mules. So I focused my glassware around those beverages as you can see above. But the best part about these is that you can make them as unique to you as you'd like. Is beer the beverage of choice in your household? Throw some goblets and pints on there. Fancy some tequila? Bust out those margarita glasses and display them in a square. We invested in some bar tools too like a jigger, strainer, muddler, and stirrer. Do you need these objects for your bar? No, but they sure help make a really great cocktail for half the price as opposed to a drink down town and from the comfort of your own home. I will also link some of these items below.

As you guys can probably tell, this is super easy to put together. The assembly of a the cube is so quick and like I said, this has become a staple set up in my apartment that every one has seemed to enjoy! It also makes hosting so much easier. Below are links to some fun bar ware and then we will move on to the spring cocktail!

 Cube storage shelf (basic colors)

Cube storage in wood patterns  

You can buy these currently as low as 40 dollars in a basic black or white color. You can get a little more fancy with them and get them in weathered grey and wood-like colors for 80 dollars. And do not feel limited or obligated to fill a 9 cube design. They come in many sizes and shapes. I chose the 9 cube because I wanted some more storage space.

Below I linked some bar tool kits that can all be found on amazon.

Professional Grade Bar Tools Essentials Deluxe Set

Mixology Bartender Kit: 10-Piece Bar Tool Set with Stylish Bamboo Stand

 Jillmo Pro Martini Bartender Kit Copper Coated Rose Gold Stainless Steel Bar Set with Bamboo Stand

Below are just a few examples of how I've decorated my bar cube over the seasons. 

You really can get as creative as you'd like with these cubes.

Alright, so you have the bar so naturally lets talk drinks! I found this fun recipe on Pinterest that I tried and loved! So fresh and fun for once the weather starts to warm up. The best part is, similar to the bar cube, the drink is so versatile. The drink is called the Rosemary Greyhound. The recipe calls for rosemary simple syrup, which takes five minutes to make at home, grapefruit juice, and vodka. Easy, right? The recipe I found is from a site called Taste's Lovely and is linked here.

I'll let you follow the link for exact step by step instructions because you just may find more tasty beverages to try out on her site. Since it is her original recipe, her site definitely deserves a look. Like I said though, the instructions took all of ten minutes from start to finish and your simple syrup, once made, just needs an hour to sit. The homemade simple syrup also can be used for up to ten days and as I said, this drink can be super versatile. As I was drinking it, I thought how good the simple syrup would be with ginger beer and vodka, or even a tonic and vodka. Might as well try a few combinations because the batch makes a lot of syrup!

The Rosemary Greyhound

Rosemary simple syrup after one hour of steeping

That's all for this post guys. I really hope you enjoyed this weeks post and have fun out there making some cute bars and tasty beverages. Have a great week!

xo H

Charelston Travel Guide

Hey you guys! I am super excited to share this post with you on what has become one of my favorite cities. Today I am going to tell you all about Charleston, South Carolina.

I have always heard amazing things about both North and South Carolina and it has always been a goal of mine to get down in that area. This past fall, I took the trip with my boyfriend to Charleston and immediately fell in love. Let me start off by saying, southern hospitality is real. The people down there were SO unbelievably friendly. It added that much more to our experience while visiting. Not one Uber driver, one barista, one waiter was rude and everyone is more than willing to go out of their way to give recommendations so that you enjoy their city as much as they do.

Courtyard at the Bluegreen

To start, we stayed at the Bluegreen Vacations King Street Hotel.  This place was nothing fancy, but was clean with a comfy large bed and even a kitchen if you felt like making some of your own meals (I recommend not taking this route because food is such a large part of what this city has to offer). This hotel also has a nice courtyard in the center where you can hangout and relax. It was also very reasonably priced so your money can go further on everything else the city has to offer. I also loved the location. It was within 15-20 minutes of everything we wanted to do, aside from the beach and plantations, and almost all of it was within walking distance. The location was at the end of King Street, which is one of the main roads in Charleston. If you follow this road straight down, you'll stumble upon a large outdoor mall.

Speaking of, we luckily arrived on the third Sunday of the month, which happens to be when the city shuts down the "shopping district" of King Street and you can walk freely on the roads to shop, try food trucks, and explore. It was a very fun experience!

Now let's start with my favorite topic ever; where to eat.

We were starving after our flight and walked about a block up the street from our hotel where we found Prohibition.  It is a cute, rustic jazz themed bar with live entertainment. We split the apricot french toast and I tried one of their signature drinks called the "Dartery" and my boyfriend tried their bacon old fashioned. First few sips/bites in and we almost fell off our chairs, the meal was amazing. It was the perfect start to our trip. 

That evening, we also had dinner reservations for 5Chruch. Key tip here if you ever go to Charleston, make all your dinner reservations before your trip. It helped us plan out our days and it made everything SO much easier. It also took away any wait from their very popular restaurants and believe me, they ALL fill up.

Anyways, we checked out 5Church which was a very cool atmosphere.  The food was great and the location was surrounded by many other great spots for an after dinner drink. 

  We then headed over to a rooftop bar nearby at the Market Pavilion Hotel. Charleston has so many amazing rooftop bars, we tried a few which you will hear about throughout the post. All of them had a great atmosphere and tasty drinks.

One of our FAVORITE stops of the trip was Husk. Again, I can not stress it enough, make reservations. This place books up months ahead for dinner and days in advance for lunch. We went for lunch since, big surprise, dinner was booked for the entire duration of our trip. I honestly wondered if this place would live up to the hype and you guys, it did. We tried their Husk burger and chicken fried steak with peppercorn gravy. I just don't have words. How can a burger be so good? I don't know, but it was. We then opted to get dessert because as you know, dessert is life. We ordered a s'mores dessert with a graham cracker ice cream. Speechless. Just go. It truly is amazing.

Husk is also known for it's bar that is right on the side of the restaurant. Many people take advantage of grabbing a drink their while waiting for their reservations. 

 views from dining at Husk

Another place worth checking out is right next door to Husk, called Poogan's Porch. This place lives up to every standard Husk does and again, very popular. We actually made reservations only a few days in advance for this place. We headed here after a long day of exploring and it was the perfect ending to the day.

We tried their seared scallops with ricotta dumplings and their she crab soup. A-MAZE-ING. This hands down was probably my boyfriends favorite meal and it was truly excellent. They even give you a basket of their homemade biscuits, it paired perfectly with the soup. I highly recommend this place and this exact meal. 

Up next is PAWPAW. We stumbled upon this place after visiting Rainbow Road. We had dinner reservations at Poogan's just a few hour later so we decided to just get some appetizers and drinks to hold us over. We got their crab dip and jalapeño hush puppies, accompanied with some frozé and boozy lemonade.  Do I need to tell you all for the 50th time that the food I ate was amazing? Because it was.

The next place worth checking out is The Restoration Hotel. This place is beautiful and would make for an amazing hotel stay. It however is very pricy, but if you have money to splurge, I would stay here. However, it's stay is not the only great thing about this place. They have an amazing coffee shop called Rise and a great rooftop bar called the Watch Rooftop. I tried their lavender honey latte at the coffee shop and it was so tasty! Great mid-day pick me up. We also checked out the rooftop where we had delicious drinks and split their burger with truffle fries. All of it was so delicious and all while enjoying the view over looking the bay. It was a very peaceful and relaxing environment and was my favorite rooftop that we went to.

The meal I was most excited to try was at Hall's Chophouse. This is one of their most recommended restaurants and it is obvious why. I'll start by saying this place is expensive. It is a top notch steak house and it comes with all of the bells and whistles. They take the phrase "waiting on you hand and foot" quite literally. We decided to split a steak, as well a side of lobster mac and cheese and loaded mashed potatoes. Best. Meal. Ever.  The price was absolutely worth it, service was astounding and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Two little quick mentions: If you are looking for a quick breakfast like we were one morning, I would check out Callie's Hot Little Biscuits. You can get them sweet or savory and with multiple dipping butters. It was a cute little shop and the perfect on the go breakfast.

If you are looking for a quick and sweet fix, I would check out Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. You can even get a little trio of flavors so you can try out multiple at a time. My favorite was brambleberry and gooey butter cake.

Lastly, is Hominy Grill. They serve both an amazing brunch and dinner and are known for their southern 'lowcountry classics'. We went for our final meal of the trip and tried their popular "big nasty biscuit" and banana bread pudding french toast. It was a great final meal and perfect end to our trip.

 In case you have not realized, Charleston is a foodie's dream. I didn't even realize until we got there what we were in for, but it was such a pleasant surprise. Most people joke that all we did was eat on this trip and thats 70% true. However I'll explain the other 30% now.

We checked out a few destinations while visiting. First was Folly Beach. It is a very touristy area, but has a huge beach with a long pier that you can walk, grab drinks, and just watch the ocean. Though it is touristy, we had a great time out there and it was super calming and relaxing.

The next place that all the locals recommended was Shem's Creek. My favorite destination of the trip. The best way I can describe this place is like a little water town. 

You can kayak in the creeks that lead out to the ocean where you can even see dolphins. It also has little bars along their walking path and then restaurants and sports bars at the main area. We adored this little piece of serenity.

I recommend stopping at Muddy's for a quick drink before following the path out to over look the ocean.

Areas you can kayak at Shems's Creek

We ended our time there at Tavern and Table for dinner where we tried their seafood burger. It was super tasty. We then after hopped over to Red's Ice house next door to watch some NFL games with drinks out on the patio. It was a super fun environment and so much fun to go to. I can see why it is a local's favorite.

Seafood burger from Tavern and Table

Obviously while we were in Charleston, we checked out one of their many plantations. We decided on Magnolia's which is their oldest and most popular. I recommend allowing yourself at least 2-4 hours of time while visiting the plantation. The property is huge and the gardens seem almost endless. There are many tours and activities to do while out there, but we did the basic house tour to get a little of the history behind the place and then just a self guided garden tour. They will give you a map and then you can just go and wander the property. It is so serene and has so much wildlife to see. I believe general admission was about 20 dollars per adult.

The last few places we visited were :Rainbow Row, Waterfront Park and the Battery.

All are known for their scenery and views.

Rainbow Row

Rainbow Row is just a strip of houses that is about two blocks long. It's nothing special, but it is cool to see and a well known tourist area in Charleston. 

 This was from Waterfront Park with their famous Pineapple Fountain. I recommend making time to stop over here, it is very close to Rainbow Row so you could do both within the same day. It is a very pretty area with large swings on the pier to let you relax and just take in the scenery. 

The Battery is another pretty area known for all the old mansions and view of the ocean. We walked here after dinner one night and just used is as a nice way to end the night and explore a bit more.

Charleston is highly known for its history. You can also find the Old Slave Mart Museum and many old cemeteries to wander around. They also provide haunted ghost tours, if like me ,you like the spooky side of things. We heard mixed reviews from locals about the tours, but if we had more time we probably would have checked it out.  

Well everyone, that's all I have for you. I apologize for how lengthy this was, but I wanted to be as in depth as possible, so if you ever plan a trip down there you can experience the best of Charleston. I do not know how many times I can say how much I adore this city and I hope if life permits it, you all get a chance to see this beautiful place. Have a great week friends.

xo H