mimosa sangria

Mimosa SangriaIf there is such a thing as “having too much of a good thing” it does not apply to this cocktail. Mimosas are why brunch exists. Sangria is why long afternoons exist. Together they are a dream come true. The only problem is every glass goes down way too easy. [You may want to pace yourself in front of Grandma at Easter brunch.]

Mimosa SangriaLike most sangria you can use whatever fruit you have on hand. I do however feel the blueberries pair wonderfully here with the orange juice, schnapps and champagne. Raspberries, blackberries and strawberries would be lovely as well. Basically if it’s a berry you are on the right track.

And before I forget, this is crazy easy to make. Just be sure to leave enough time for the berries to party with the juice and schnapps. [4 hours at least.]

Mimosa Sangria Mimosa SangriaI feel sort of cruel posting these images because seriously, how can this not be good? The thing is – it is not good… it’s AMAZING. It’s like 2 of the best pitcher drinks got married and had themselves a prodigy child and now all other pitcher drinks will pale in comparison. If it weren’t for the fact that this drink packs a punch I would finish the whole pitcher. [Disclaimer: stick to ONE glass, just make sure it’s a big one.]

Mimosa SangriaIf you are in charge of the Easter brunch cocktail this is what you are bringing. You will be everyone’s favorite relative…unless you run out. Better make a double triple batch.

Cheers!

brandyjsig

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
mimosa sangria
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1cup fresh blueberries
  • 1½cups orange juice
  • 1cup peach schnapps
  • 1 bottle champagne
Instructions
  1. Place the blueberries, orange juice and schnapps in a large pitcher and allow to chill overnight (or at least 4 hours).
  2. While stirring, pour the entire bottle of champagne in the pitcher. The bubbles will flatten over time. Fill your glasses with ice and pour sangria on top allowing the blueberries to fall in glasses. Cheers!

Mimosa Sangria
Posted in brunch, cheers!, Easter, holidays, recipes | Tagged | 8 Comments

smashed chickpea & avocado salad

Smashed Chickpea Avocado SaladIf you love light salad sandwiches this recipe is totally up your alley! I’ve been making this yummy healthy salad for a couple of months now…the taste varies depending on what I have on hand but honestly, there has never been a disappointing version.

Chickpeas and avocados are staples in our home and clearly the stars here. Take a little citrus, herb, spice and seasoning and those simple ingredients are transformed into a creamy, healthy and most importantly scrumptious dish.

Smashed Chickpea Avocado SaladThere’s one tweensie weensie step in the recipe you may find less than enthusiastic to perform – the removing of the chickpea skin. You could skip it in a pinch but the texture will not be nearly as light and creamy. The taste however will stay intact. [And when in a hurry taste trumps texture, almost always.]

Smashed Chickpea Avocado Salad Smashed Chickpea Avocado SaladNot only does this salad taste wonderful but it’s healthy and filling. Let’s not forget that it’s vegetarian too! A must add recipe to your lunch roster in my humble opinion.

Enjoy!

brandyjsig

 

smashed chickpea & avocado salad
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 avocado
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • Pinch of red pepper flake
  • ¼tsp ground cumin
  • Handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • Sea salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Place chickpeas on a paper towel and pop each one out it's "skin". Discard skin and place chickpeas in a medium size bowl. This step can seem tedious but it's worth it for the creaminess/texture factor.
  2. Cut the avocado inhal lengthwise and remove pit. Scoop the flesh out and place in bowl with chickpeas. Add sea salt and lemon juice and smash the ingredients together with a fork or potato masher.
  3. Add the red pepper flake, cumin and parsley. Combine and add salt and pepper to taste. Eat on toasted bread, in a pita, wrap or alone.
Notes
Feel free to swap out the lemon for lime and parsley for cilantro. Also yummy with onion or scallions!

Smashed Chickpea Avocado Salad

 

Posted in healthy eats, recipes, vegetarian | Tagged | 1 Comment

raspberry lemonade scones

Raspberry Lemonade SconesSometimes you mix ingredients together and the outcome is exactly what you imagined. Other times you make 3 batches of scones and cry over all the butter and raspberries that end up in the garbage disposal.

Had my man not bought me the giant container of raspberries we would no be looking at these delightful scones. (Had I not caught him eating the just enough raspberries I had left for a last scone attempt…well, I’ll put put it this way, the man still has his fingers.)

My first attempt I thought I would get cute and use San Pellegrino for the lemonade flavor. I have never baked with carbonation like that before. It was a complete disaster. The second go around I have no idea what happened. My best guess is I completely got a measurement wrong. The last one though, it was exactly what I was hoping for. Light, yet crispy on the edge scones filled with juicy raspberries and brought alive with the zing of lemon. These are iced coffee ready people.

Raspberry Lemonade SconesAt first I thought the scones were kind of ugly but then I drizzled the glaze on them and they got all cute. Wish that’s all it took for us human folk. Can you imagine? Wake up. Drizzle. Done.

Raspberry Lemonade SconesOne thing that was extremely important to me is that these did not taste like raspberry with lemon scones…I wanted that lemonade flavor there. In doing this, I 86’d any vanilla I would typically use, and added more zest. But the true lemonade flavor comes from the glaze. It’s a thick, creamy lemon shake-up dream glaze. Placed on top of that raspberry scone sends it into a whole other world of goodness.

Raspberry Lemonade Scones Raspberry Lemonade SconesBright flavors are my thing right now, as they should being that we are more than halfway through March. Get ready for more lemon guys, and raspberries but I pretty much obsess other those year round.

Enjoy!

brandyjsig

 

raspberry lemonade scones
 
Prep time
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Total time
 
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter frozen
  • ⅓cup granulated sugar
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 2cups all purpose flour
  • 1½tsp baking powder
  • ¼tsp kosher salt
  • 1 large egg
  • ½cup greek or plain yogurt (do not use fat free)
  • 2tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ⅔cup fresh raspberries
  • for the glaze:
  • ⅓cup powdered sugar
  • 1tbsp lemon juice (more for adjusting)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Grate the frozen butter on a large grate and place in small bowl back in freezer until ready to use.
  3. Place the sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl and rub together with fingers. Add flour, baking powder and kosher salt and whisk together.
  4. In another medium bowl whisk together egg, yogurt, lemon juice and grated butter until well blended. Add to dry mixture and gently combine with a spatula until just incorporated it. It should have an almost fall apart, crumbly look to it. You want to stop mixing before all the flour disappears. Very important not to over mix.
  5. Add the raspberries and very gently fold them in. They can easily break but don't worry if they do. Just be as gentle as possible.
  6. Dump the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and form into a 7" to 8" disk. If dough is too sticky add a little flour to your hands. Not too much as this can make the scones tough. Cut the disk into 8 wedges and arrange evenly on baking sheet.
  7. Bake to 12 to 15 minutes our until scones begin to turn golden. Allow to cool on sheet completely.
  8. While scones are baking, make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar and lemon juice. You want it to be a consistency where if you pull up a fork and drizzle the drizzle stays for a bit before disappearing into the remaining glaze in bowl. Add more powdered sugar if too thin, more juice if too thick.
  9. Once scones are cool drizzle the glaze on top and devour. Best ate day of but can keep in airtight contain for up to 2 days.
Raspberry Lemonade Scones
Posted in breakfast, brunch, recipes, something sweet | Tagged | Leave a comment

hb salon (and a 3-way braid)

When talent, creativity and drive combine magical things happen. Our small town has seen quite a few magic makers taking the leap in recent years, with one of them being my gorgeous friend Alex.

HB Salon opened not too long ago. A dream that I know Alex has had for many, many years. Before I ever met her I would hear people say “She will do it someday. She’s a doer.” They could not have been more right. Not only did she “do it”, she knocked it out of the park. Took a small, not so lovely space, and transformed it into a swanky, intimate setting for hair stylist and her client.

Every corner of the salon has a little piece of Alex tucked away in it…with the touches from her grandmother (the sunburst clock and quote) being my absolute favorite:

HB Salon | Van Wert, OH

(So good right? Gosh I love brave people with big dreams!)

Of course I couldn’t visit Alex without stealing a hair tutorial from her. With help from another pretty friend, Siobhan, here is a 3-way braid:

First, part your hair to the side and take small section from the front. Next dutch braid it all the way to the end. Either by holding onto the end, or by securing the low bottom with an elastic, begin “pulling” the braid to give it a fuller, larger look. Pull from bottom to top, messy is good here. Once braid is nice and full secure the bottom with an elastic band.

3-Way BraidNow take a small section behind the dutch braid and do the same as above except with a classic french braid. Again, imperfection is okay here. In fact, it’s recommended!

3-Way BraidWith a 3rd section, directly behind the french braid, get your fishtail braid on. Do the same as the previous two braids as far as plumping and messing up that braid. When all braids are full and secured with elastics, grab some bobby pins and secure the braids in a swooping formation, around the back of your head. How far you will swoop over depends on your hair length. Siobhan has medium long hair and her swoop went a little past the back center.

3-Way BraidIt’s sort of like a casual half crown with lots of fabulous textures:3-Way Braid 3-Way BraidTo keep it on the simple side you can forgo the bobby pinning and simply do a loose braid with the 3 “tails” of the 3 different braids:

3-Way BraidThank you to Alex and Siobhan for helping me out on this fantastic post! And one more big CONGRATS to Alex and HB Salon. A new gem in our humble little town. We are lucky to have as many as we do.

[And hey guys, if you want more from Alex please let me know! I wouldn’t mind bugging her again!]

xoxo,

brandyjsig

 

 

If you are in the area (Van Wert, OH – near Lima, OH and Fort Wayne, IN) and would like to schedule an appt you can do so by calling 419.910.9424. You can also see what the girls are up to at HB on Insta: @salonhb

HB Salon | Van Wert, OHAlex Giessler & Bri Wyse of HB Salon

Posted in beauty, diy, hair | Tagged | 2 Comments

green is good

It has been rainy here the last couple of days…which I sort of love. Not that I am ready to move to Seattle or anything, but a day or two of mother nature’s melancholy is good with me.

Winter was sort of an awesome let down. It never truly “wintered” as in we never really got the kind of snow we have grown accustom to. When Timehop reminds me how bitterly cold it was the last few years however, I am more than happy to forego the snow.

That said I am ready for a legit season. Spring is suppose to be a mix of sunshine and rain. When we are gifted an honest to goodness dose of it I declare Spring as my favorite season.

Plus without rain when we would ever get to wear our cute wellies and carry the adorable umbrellas?

Hunter Boot LookI rarely wear that trench, and there is really no reason why. If there was a reason to drag it out of the closet it would be St Patrick’s week. That’s right, it’s a week long holiday. Come on guys, I already saw you celebrating this weekend on social media. Well, those of you without kids or the ones who had sitters.

Hunter Boot Look Hunter Boot LookYou cannot take yourself too seriously when you have to edit images of yourself. Sometimes I am horrified but most of the time I just laugh. The image above I am all “la dee dah…the rain is awesome!” and below I’m like “Touch my umbrella and die.”

I surely hope I don’t have a resting bitch face because that is pure evil right there.

green_coat_4||WEARING||green trench similar/denim shirt similar/H&M jeans/Hunter boots/umbrella

What are you wearing in green this week?

xoxo,

brandyjsig

Posted in holidays, outfits, St Patrick's Day, style | Tagged | Leave a comment