Stressed

Its that time of year again. Mid-terms every other week and assignments piling up. You are short on time and energy. Study sessions run into the early morning hours and junk food suddenly becomes the staple in your diet.  The lack of sleep, overload of junk food and overall stress of midterms often leads to colds which are never fun, trust me I've been there.
Here is my advice for beating midterms and staying healthy (or at least trying too) during them:

1. Get some sleep! 

2. Take a multi vitamin 

3. Wash your hands regularly

4. Make a study schedule...stick to it

5. Don’t forget to schedule time for yourself, even for an hour

6. Do your best to eat healthy. (Green Smoothie anyone?) 

7. Get in some exercise... or at least some fresh air!

Veggie and Goat Cheese Pizza

The other night I was deciding what to make for dinner. I wanted something quick and easy and that I could have leftovers for lunch the next day.  I had a red pepper, red onion and a zucchini in my fridge, so I decided to go with a veggie pizza.  It was fast and simple and as an added bonus: I had plenty of left over veggies and sauce to make pasta with the next day! 

Ingredients: 

1 red pepper

1/2 a red onion 

1 zucchini 

2 cloves of garlic 

tomato sauce 

olive oil 

spices

goats cheese

pita bread

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut up the veggies and garlic, toss in olive oil and spices.  Roast veggies and garlic for about 25-30 mins. 

 While veggies are roasting spread a thin layer of sauce on pita. Once veggies are roasted remove from oven, top pita with veggies and crumble goats cheese on top.  Place in oven until goats cheese has softened (another 3-5mins).  Enjoy!

What is your favourite quick dinner recipe?
Jaclyn

Miss Fancy Pants

I found a new favourite nail polish! I have been wearing Essie's Miss Fancy Pants for the past week and a half now. My nails chip and I take it off and then reapply it.

I love the purple undertones in this colour and the fact that it basically goes with pretty much everything! I think it is perfect for fall. Plus I can't help but love grey! 

What is your favourite fall nail polish colour?
Jaclyn

Pumpkin Chai Tea Latte

I literally waited for weeks to get to David's Tea to get some pumpkin chai. I had been dreaming about mugs of warm tea that tasted delicious and pumpkin-y. I have been enjoying this in latte form ever since 

It is so comforting so sip a warm latte out of my owl mug. This tea has the perfect amount of pumpkin and spices. I love it plain but its even better in latte form. I usually add about 1/3 tea to 2/3s warm frothy milk. 

What is your favourite fall drink? 

Jaclyn

Turkey Apple Brie Sandwich

 The best part about Thanksgiving (after spending time with family and eating yourself into a food coma) are the leftovers. I pretty much had enough food to last me the week, which is awesome! So what did I do with all my left over turkey? Make a Turkey Apple Brie sandwich of course.

 

This sandwich has everything I love in it. It has the perfect amount of crunch from the apples, sweetness from honey and creamy-ness from the cheese. It is probably up there in my top three favourite sandwiches. 

Ingredients: 

Turkey breast

Honey 

Spinach 

Apple, thinly sliced 

brie cheese, sliced 

2 slices of bread

Spread layer of honey onto one piece of bread. Add single layer of apple slices. Pile turkey onto apples (I like to grill my turkey for a couple minutes until it is heated through first).  Add a handful of spinach and finish with a layer of brie cheese.  Place sandwich on panini grill until cheese is melted about 5 mins or so. 

What is your favourite left over turkey recipe?
Jaclyn

Fall Cords

Pants: American Eagle. Shirt: American Eagle. Sweater: The Bay  Scarf: gift. Shoes: Steve Madden

My school year has been crazy busy so far with no signs of it slowing down. Fridays feel like such a relief when they finally appear after gloomy Mondays.  The weather has started to cool off a bit which I am loving. I am enjoying breaking out the fall wardrobe and wearing scarves again!  This is another outfit that I wore to class. 

I was super excited when I went to American Eagle and they had coloured skinny cords. I debated for a while which colour to get. They had a really pretty light pink and teal colour but I decided to go with the light grey colour because I felt I could get the most wear out of them. They are so comfortable and perfect for fall. 

Have a great day!
Jaclyn

Apple Pie Cupcakes

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I made these cupcakes as requested for my boyfriends birthday. Let me tell you, they taste like an apple pie in cupcake form. They were super moist, sweet and all around delicious. I filled them with homemade caramel sauce and topped them with a brown sugar and cinnamon buttercream. Seriously SO good! 

For the Cake: 
Adapted from Food Network.

• 1.5 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 apples, cored, peeled, and chopped (I used Red Delicious)
• 1.5 cups unsweetened apple sauce 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 regular size cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer on low speed, combine the sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla extract until blended. In a separate large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing on low until blended. Mix in apple sauce until blended. Stir in the apples.

Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full with batter and bake until the cupcakes spring back when touched with your finger, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool in the pans for a few minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

The filling:
From Barefeet in the Kitchen 

1 cup sugar
1/4 water
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of kosher salt

In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and the water. Stir to combine and then cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves; about 4-5 minutes. There is no need to stir, simply swirl the pan over the burner occasionally as the sugar dissolves.

Raise the heat to medium high and cook the sauce, swirling the pan occasionally, until it is amber colored; about 7-8 minutes. Add the butter, be prepared for it to bubble and sputter, lightly stir or swirl to melt, do not scrape the sides of the pan or splash sauce up the sides of the pan. (This will cause crystallization, if you scrape the uncooked sugars back into the sauce.)

Once the butter is melted, remove from the heat and add the vanilla and heavy cream. It will bubble again, but will calm quickly. Stir to combine (again, not scraping sides of the pan) and then let cool. 

Use a small knife to cut a cone into the cupcake. Fill with a few teaspoons of caramel sauce. Replace removed cake. 

The Frosting:
1 cup butter
1/2 brown sugar
2 tbs cinnamon
3-5 cups icing sugar
2 tsp cream

Using mixer beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth. Add icing sugar until desired consistency/ sweetness is reached. Finish by beating in 2 tsp of cream.

The apple pieces in the cupcake kept in nice and moist and gave it a great texture. I really enjoyed the air whipped texture of this frosting as well. This is something I will for sure be making again. Nothing quite like fall in cupcake form.  I think they would be perfect for Thanksgiving this weekend! 

What is your favourite fall treat?
Jaclyn

Cowboy Boots!

Top: H&M. Jeans: The Bay, Material Girl. Scarf: Forever 21. Boots: Steve Madden. Watch: Marc By Marc. Bracletes: Stolen from my mom.

Fall is my favourite season. I love the colours. I love the food. I love carving pumpkins. I love steeping on crunchy leaves. Oh and I love all the AH-MAZING pies (apple or pumpkin anyone).  I am also enjoying the clothes and boots! 

I have been wearing these boots for about two weeks straight now. I am obsessed... to put it lightly. Seriously, its at the point where people are probably wondering if I own any other type of footwear. How can I resist them though? Especially because they have feathers!  

I am also loving these skinny jeans. Not only are they a beautiful evergreen colour they also have just the perfect amount of stretch. My only complaint is that the front pockets are fake (aka they don't open). A pocket by definition is meant to HOLD something. 

Okay rant over. 

What is your favourite thing about fall? 

Jaclyn