Friday 30 May 2014

Things I Learned this Week: Life Hacks

It's BACK! I've missed a couple of weeks due to some unfortunate craziness, but TILTW is back!

Today's "Things I Learned this Week" is brought to you by Life Hacks!

1. Bacon, because..Bacon. 


2. In case of power outage...

3.Birthday Party season is upon us!

4. I always end up with dressing in my lunch bag when I bring a salad. Voila, leak no more!

5. I am the WORST with names...I'll have to remember this.


And a BONUS hack, in honour of my beautiful friend getting married tomorrow. I have no doubt ALL of these will be played at the reception tomorrow, and I CAN'T WAIT!

[Disclaimer: All hacks were found on Pinterest]

Thursday 29 May 2014

Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies {+ Giveaway!}

A few weekends ago, my Mom, Sister and I went away to Collingwood for our annual girls weekend getaway. These weekends usually entail wine, board games, wine... & wine.  My mom also provides us with an Easter Egg hunt (because, why not?) and lootbags full of fun goodies. Since my Mom knows I'm trying to eat clean, my bag was full mostly non-food items, but she did give me a bag of nuts from NaturSource.


Immediately, I was intrigued. Their company mission statement is all about quality product and natural ingredients. I brought them to work for a snack and fell in love. So much so that I reached out to them and asked to to a review and giveaway for them so that I could share my new-found addiction with you!

These wonderful people sent me an entire BOX full of their fantastic product for me to try that included various nuts, snack mixes and granola. When I looked at the ingredients, I was truly surprised to see that I could pronounce everything included in their product and that I knew what all the ingredients were (coconut, olive oil, rosemary, sea salt to name a few). The best part - everything tasted amazing. There wasn't ONE thing that I didn't like. The flavours blend together so nicely, yet, sometimes they can be surprising (like their Savoury Cashew Crunch).

Needless to say, I was inspired to make something using their product & opted for somethinga little different. Enter, Chocolate Chip Granola Cookies. These cookies are to DIE for. Soft and chewy, with a nice granola crunch. Absolutely fab & super easy to put together!

Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies
inspired by epicurious
makes about 16-18 cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper. 
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda & salt. In a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer) beat together the butter and 2 sugars together until nice and fluffy (about 2 mins). Add the vanilla and egg and beat until combined.

On slow speed, slowly add in the flour mixture until JUST combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the granola and chocolate chips until evenly distributed in the the dough.

Using a tablespoon, scoop out dough and transfer to the cookie sheet (use another tablespoon to release dough onto the pan). Press down with your fingers to flatten cookies slightly.

Transfer to the oven and bake for about 12 minutes or until a light golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack. Enjoy with a LARGE glass of milk! 


Guess what?! The wonderful people at NaturSource are giving one of my readers an AMAZING Prize Pack of a variety of their products. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below!



a Rafflecopter giveaway  

The Fine Print: Giveaway ends Friday June 13, 2014 at 10am EST. As I mentioned above, I did receive a basket of goodies from the people at NaturSource in exchange for a review, but all of the opinions expressed are my own.

Friday 16 May 2014

I'm STILL HERE!

Hello lovely people! I'm sorry I haven't been posting more often, we've had QUITE the week at the RTB household. Between sickness, my FIL in the hospital and work, we pretty much haven't stopped running around/sleeping.

In any case, next week I'll be back on the horse (which I got to do a couple of weekends ago and it was AWESOMEEE) and posting again. I actually have a couple of REALLY awesome Sponsored Posts coming up (which means another giveawayyyyy) as well as fun recipes and my usual nonsense.

Until then, have an AMAZING long weekend <3

Friday 2 May 2014

Things I've Learned this Week 05.02.14

It's Maaaaaaaaay. I couldn't be happier! This is going to be SUCH a great month! I have a girls weekend this weekend with my Mom and Sister, next weekend is the Sporting Life 10K (which I'm totally nervous for, but it'll be great, I'm sure!), and after that is the LOOOONG weekend. Finally, I'll be going to the Falls for my sweet friend's Bachelorette and then to her wedding the following weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SQUEEEEEE! Throw in my Birthday in there and and whole lot of action going on at work...this is going to be a mental month.

Anyway, that all aside, here are the 5 things I learned on the interwebs this week!

HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER QUICKLY
This is awesome because I'm always baking last minute and I never remember to take the butter out to allow it to come to room temperature. I'll usually zap it in the microwave, but a little part of it always ends up melting. So, from the darling at Lil' Luna, I learned that all you have to do, is cut it up into slices, set it aside while you're getting your other ingredients together and it will quickly adjust to room tempurature!

 
HOW DOGS REALLY DRINK WATER
This is SOOOOOO cool, you just have to go and watch it for yourself!

HOW TO EASILY REMOVE A STRAWBERRY STEM
It's almost Strawberry season (one of my FAVE fruits) so this tip will come in handy VERY soon!

I NEED THIS NECKLACE
How absolutely adorable is this necklace? I definitely need this in my collection!


HOW TO MAKE MARY KAT SATIN HANDS
So, a looong time ago, but Mom used to be a rep for Mary Kay. My favourite product from them was always their Satin Hands product. I just LOOOVED how it smelled and how my hands felt after using it. I haven't used it for years, but I saw this online and pretty much freaked out. All you need is 1 bottle of Dawn Olay Beauty Hand renewal soap Lots of sugar and 1-2 tablespoons Coconut oil (optional. I cannot WAIT to try making this!
Have a great weekend everyoneeeeeeeeeeee! <3