blueberry pizza.

i had really high hopes for this blueberry/ricotta/white cheddar/honey pizza.

i found it on pinterest

(surprise.)

and made it this weekend.

maybe it was that blueberries aren't at their best right now.

but it just turned out kinda... good.

when i was expecting amazing.

i liked it. not going to lie, we ate it :)

so why am i talking like it was a fail? it wasn't a fail. it was good.

not kinda good, either. it was yummy.

i was just hoping for more.

you can find the recipe here.

(since i've talked you into how awesome it is, ha.)

i am going to make it again, with a few changes.

first, i'll start when it's blueberry season, and they're sweet and delicious.

i think that was my first problem, i wanted it to be sweet and savory but it turned out basically... just savory.

next, i might skip the ricotta and trade it in for goat cheese.

i love goat cheese. it makes anything better.

but the rest, i liked.

buttery flaky dough.

sharp white cheddar.

BASIL. (just basil. basil basil basil. i love fresh basil.)

sweet honey with a kick of red pepper flakes.

blueberries and ricotta.

a little salt.

see.... doesn't it sound like it'd be the best thing in the whole wide world? 

i think it can be. i just made it too early.

i'll get back to you in the summer when blueberries are hot.

until then,

have you ever done that?

found a recipe that you thought would make you weak in the knees to be disappointed by something that was actually good? sounds nutty.

JILL

cinnamon, chocolate, and... dan.

sorry this is coming at ya so late.

i had a busy morning.

my dad is running for our city's city council again. he's been on it for 11 years and is up for re-election. i'm his campaign marketeer... of sorts. i have photoshop and i take photos. so all the mailers and ads have turned out to be my job, yet again :)

the ad for the newspaper was due at noon today and i wasn't quite finished, so that was this morning. good news is its all finished and sent off to print!

vote for dan!

on another front,

i have been obsessed lately with cinnamon.

read this, then make this, then remember and remind yourself that its good for you:

cut up one banana into slices.

lay onto plate.

drizzle with a good honey (oh the health benefits of honey...)

then sprinkle with cinnamon (oh the health benefits of cinnamon...)

then eat.

and like i said, remind yourself that its tasty like dessert but it's good for you!

(google the healthy-ness of honey and cinnamon. surprising.)

another recipe up next for trial:

salted mayan chocolate pots de creme.

find the recipe here.

they're happening tonight.

can't wait.

i love chocolate with cinnamon and chile powder.

i also have added both of those things into my hot chocolates and it never dissapoints!

my mind is still on fast mode so sorry if i was all over the place.

happy monday.

JILL

polka dot glitter cookies

i feel like the last 8 things i've purchased have been polka dotted.

i'm kinda having a moment with them.

glad the rest of the world is, too.

don't look now, but i'd love to do this to our second bath:

love it in every way. very tempted.

moving on.

i wish i had more time. i'm sure you all feel that way, and i don't even have kids yet!

by the time i get home from work i feel like i'm just going to bed to get up and do it all over again. but if i had like 2 extra hours a day to get the stuff i have to get done, to then do the stuff that i want to get done....

i'd make these:

polka dot cookies!

in neon and neutrals!

with sparkles!

they're like little gems of all my current favorite things rolled into a sugar.

you can find the recipe here.

a random, yet happy thursday.

happy thursday, friends.

JILL

tis the season.

citrus season!

it's cold and gloomy and gross outside...

and thank goodness for these, bright sunny spots of vitamin c.

{i love fruit. fruit is like dessert to me.

i don't understand those out there that don't like fruit. it's like candy!

and i will take most any fruit flavored dessert over any chocolate dessert you can throw at me. ever.

drives my husband crazy because he prefers those with chocolate and i prefer... key lime pie.}

at my grocery store right now, grapefruits are 2 for a $1.

i have been eating at least one a day.

at least.

saturday morning breakfast at my house ^

i was tempted to do the grapefruit brulee.

you sprinkle your halved grapefruit with sugar, then pop it under the broiler.

i was tempted...

but it was going to take too long and i just wanted to eat it.

i normally don't even add sugar.

but i think it sounds good.

another one i wanna try:

blood orange bars.

like lemon bars but waaaaaaay more beautiful.

do you see this color?!:

i think it'd be so lovely for a brunch.

or on tuesdays. or fridays. or any day really.

you can find the recipe here.

are you enjoying any fruits of the season right now?

JILL

chicken soup for the soul.

 

yesterday afternoon i really started to feel like real food again.

consider my not very satisfying diet of vegetable broth, water and gatorade the previous 36 hours, not very satisfying...

so we made some chicken noodle soup,

to slap the rest of the sick right out of me.

husband and i use this recipe from real simple, found here, lots.

the only thing we do differently is we add half of an onion and a little thyme.

its easy and tasty, and gets the chicken noodle soup work done in no time.

the other day i pinned this:

if i wasn't so starving :)

maybe i would have taken the time to do that.

probably not.

but if you wanted some chicken noodle soup for valentine's day, or you wanted to make your husband or child feel better while they're sick with the dirty flu, you could most definitely make it with tender, loving, heart-shaped carrots.

the carrots hail from here.

and i think it's pretty cute.

(you could save those carrot peels for making broth... which i'm also too lazy to do myself. emeril makes a tasty organic veggie or chicken :)

negative side of being gone for 2 days unexpectedly, my desk and inbox look like a war zone...

bright side of being gone for 2 days unexpectedly, it's thursday and tomorrow's friday!

JILL

hot chocolate and marshmallow... men.

i just made these cookies and wanted to share in case you're sitting around wandering what cookies you could be making on this christmas eve....

my mom and i made these hot chocolate cookies with marshmallow filling.

they're a big hit.

mix all your stuff together.

#messycook

and... here's the stuff to mix together.

(we just bought whole almonds and pulsed them in the processor until they were ground. i'm sure you can buy ground almonds at whole foods or something. and i bet a magic bullet would do the trick if you don't have a food processor.)

roll out thin. recipe said 1/16".

they're going to be sandwich cookies!

cut.

we used an old teeny tiny lil copper gingerbread man.

he felt festive.

they're awesome because they hardly spread when baked.

i'm always looking for recipes that don't spread.

here's a chocolate one in case you are, too.

make little sandwiches with your men, or any other shape you picked,

with marshmallow frosting.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:

1 cup room temp butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 7oz. jar of marshmallow fluff

cream butter in mixer until fluffy.

add sugar, mix.

then add fluff.

mix.

pipe it out.

we tried using just the fluff for the middle as the recipe suggests, but it spreads and is really sticky-messy.

we googled and found the marshmallow buttercream above, and it was perfect.

on your cookie, or your finger.

they are 'hot chocolate' cookies but it's really just a glorified name for a chocolate cookie. there's no hot chocolate involved. but i'm not mad.

they taste delicious and were/are a big hit.

merry christmas eve!!

JILL

2 turtledoves...

and a

partridge in a pear tree

holiday party need a holiday drink?

i found this recipe for a

'partridge in a pear tree'

from a fab house wife.

lots of holiday drinks, including my white russian with cinnamon, seem a little too heavy and creamy to have more than one. or even one. sometimes a weighty cocktail just won't do.

this one seems like it would be light and refreshing yet still get you feeling festive.

1.5 oz pear vodka

.5 oz lemon juice

.5 oz simple syrup

champagne to top it off

rosemary for garnish

i'm tempted to throw some rosemary into my simple syrup to get a little of that flavor into the drink, i love herbs in cocktails. and i love rosemary.

and i love you.

there you have it.

JILL

a festive white russian with a twist.

hey jill. what's your favorite cocktail for this holiday season?

so glad you asked.

that would be a white russian, of course.

with cinnamon!!

usually you make em with vodka, cream (or milk in my case, and lots of other people's cases), and kahlua.

but i recently made one with kahlua's cinnamon spice flavor and

holy moly.

so damn good.

it's my official 2012 holiday cocktail.

don't you always have an official holiday cocktail?

me neither. but this year i do.

and it's this:

i do equal parts of all 3.

but there are lots of differing recipes. i know when i was a bartender

i did equal parts for ease and they always tasted delish.

make your own.

spice em up.

drink em up.

{responsibly of course.}

they're like dessert.

or the perfect night cap.

i bet if you just had plain kahlua, you could just sprinkle a little cinnamon on top.

and then go watch the big lebowski.

he prefers them, as well.

JILL

it's what's for dinner.

i don't think i've been this excited to run home and make dinner. ever.

sweet potato gnocchi.

with balsamic-sage brown butter sauce.

and spinach.

and parmesan cheese.

i.

can't.

wait.

seriously, my mouth is watering.

you can get this recipe here.

happy monday.

now hurry up and get to dinner time.

JILL

salted.

i've recently added some recipes to my caramel arsenal.

my mouth is watering just looking at them.

it's freezing in kc this weekend.

not kidding, 80's last week.... 50's (and 30's at night) this weekend.

and i think one or two of these are happening:

apple and salted caramel focaccia.

banana cream pie with chocolate ganache and salted caramel.

chocolate cake with salted caramel buttercream.

homemade salted caramel sauce.

*this one looks particularly delicious. it's made without the addition

of corn syrup. just straight up goodness.

don't do the corn syrup thing.

just say no.

and anything caramel is better with salt.

it's the love of my life, says my tastebuds.

and although they're seasonally appropriate, its always appropriate in my book.

have a great weekend.

JILL

garlic scallion noodles.

home-made take-out!

does that make sense?

last night, husband and i made this from here. 

we were out of town all weekend for our friends' wedding.

getting back yesterday, we were beat.

too much fun :)

so dinner was either take-out or easy.

after stuffing our faces all weekend we didn't feel like junk food,

so we landed upon these:

garlic scallion noodle bowls.

not totally healthy but not a total bomb, either.

it's not my recipe but i wanted to share them so badly with you!

so tasty tasty delicious.

all you need:

butter, soy sauce, garlic, scallions/green onions, brown sugar and noodles.

{get the full amounts here.}

and we added some shrimp to ours to make it a whole meal.

first we started with the noodles. just plain ol spaghetti. (we made sure to not cook them all the way, i didn't want mushy. took them off just before al dente.)

we sauteed our shrimp in olive oil. put them aside.

then we melted our butter in a saute pan and added our garlic and onions.

sauteed them for about 4 minutes and added the soy and brown sugar.

got that all mixed and lovely.

then we added our noodles and shrimp into the pan with the sauce and tossed.

you can add more onions for garnish.

and you guys.

so good.

soooo good.

it really was like take-out,

but you can control what goes in it!

we ended up not thinking it was saucy enough so we whipped up another half batch of it. this time using way less butter {we thought there was enough of it already}, so basically just added more garlic, onions, soy sauce and brown sugar.

salty sweet and yummy.

happy monday.

JILL

citrus.

this whole post is based on the fact that i want to eat this cake.

right now.

i'm making it this weekend.

and might not share.

get the recipe here.

citrus cake with lemon curd filling and orange icing.

might sub grapefruit for the icing bc i love it that much.

it was inspired by stella mccartney's spring 2011 citrus print.

just like it, right!?

me like it long time.

imagine hosting a 'summer's-not-over-yet' party with this cake as the centerpiece.

wearing this on you and your home:

YOU-

citrus party by thebluehouse featuring a gold necklace

Raglan shirt, $63 / Steve Madden platform heels, $130 / Gold necklace, $16

YOUR HOME-

swanky.

and the gold flamingos are mandatory.

love.

JILL.

{gold flamingos via coco + kelley, leaf pillow via whitelockandco on etsy , suzani pillow via textilegallery on etsy, tray via cb2, pink glasses vintage and sold, umbrella via ebay}

musings.

one of these things has nothing to do with the other.

they are just things i'm digging right now.

like my kitchen.

i made some progress with it this weekend.

like hanging some art:

and i am 100% fully aware that this is a tease.

and that i keep promising you things-- like a showing of my pink kitchen, or my newly upholstered settee.

(there she is... she's been done for weeks now. and we use her. and we love her.)

more here. here. here. here. and here.

i am 78% completed with the kitchen and i promise you by friday there will be photos.

along with a list of what's left to do.

scout's honor. (although i was never an official girl scout.)

so i guess i just promise promise.

promise.

this is the most effortlessly cool saturday morning summer outfit i've seen thus far.

long dress, for those not-freshly-shaven-legs.

a hat for bedhead.

sunnies for smeared morning make-up.

toms.

want it want it want it.

all.

this bar, via design sponge, is so well put together.

and color coordinated!

mine looks half as cool.

i need to work on it.

cool people have cool bars.

and summer fruit.

been eating my face full.

and i think i'm making this tonight.

happy monday.

JILL

pancakes. with bacon.

this weekend i was stuck inside editing photos all weekend long. both days. just trying to get caught up. and i did... so it was worth it, but dang.

and it was such a glorious and hot weekend.

would have been better spent by the pool.

so husband perked me up by making dinner on saturday.

we refer to it as b-for-d. or breakfast for dinner.

we had pancakes and eggs and bacon.

except we put the bacon inside the pancakes

such as zees:

(from martha)

i saw this on pinterest.

(where else?)

the key tip we came away with: cook your bacon strips in a pan, or however you cook it i guess.... just pre-cook it in a separate spot from your pancakes. all the way. pancakes don't take long so it won't burn your bacon or anything.

#1-- it keeps the excess bacon grease away from what you're about to eat.

#2-- the raw bacon wouldn't cook fast enough on your griddle with the pancakes together.

the second tip: cook your bacon on the crispy side. it makes it easier to cut/eat when you finally get around to stuffing your face with your bacon pancakes.

but oh man.

it was like 2 good things coming together to make an even better little bacon-pancake baby.

i have this saved on pinterest too:

apparently it works with waffles, too.

next time.

happy monday.

did you get to enjoy being outside this weekend? i'm jealous.

JILL

cheeeeese balls.

but these cheese balls are not fried cheese balls...

they are baked cheese balls!!

(that means they're nonfat, right?)

seriously though, i just made these. i died.

they taste just like fried mozzarella cheesesticks.

as in, just like them.

you might even trick yourself and you're the one who made them.

to make some for yourself, i used this recipe and you can, too.

but all i used/all you need is some mozz string cheese. i got the 2% milk variety.

some skim milk.

some italian bread crumbs.

cut your cheese sticks into bite sized pieces, i got 4 per stick.

dip them in the milk and then roll them in the breadcrumbs.

that's all.

place them on a cookie sheet. i lined it with foil for no sticking.

bake them at 425 for 7-10 minutes.

enjoy.

this photo came courtesy of 'never trust a skinny chef' where the recipe hails from. i would have taken some myself but they. were gone.

they are so good.

go make yourself some!!!!!!!!!

JILL

big girl ice cream.

get out your ice cream makers, ya'll.

these ice creams aren't just for little kids.

grown ups approved.

these recipes have me drooling.

they're all saved on my dessert pinterest page.

{yeah, i have one of those.}

go get yourself some.

lavender honey. just like on 'it's complicated.'

can't wait to try this one.

brown. butter. ice. cream.

butter.

this one is certainly for special occasions only.

coffee toffee ice cream.

blood orange ice cream.

carmelized banana ice cream.

i bet it's similar to a bananas foster, which i love.

chocolate chip, coconut, and roasted cherries.

bam.

and a healthier recipe i can see myself making all the time this summer (just in my magic bullet!!), it's blueberry frozen yogurt. made with frozen blueberries, greek yogurt and honey!

am i making you as hungry as i'm making myself?

love.

JILL