Hey! A Fun Weekend!

I finally had a memorable weekend! I usually work 12 hour days both Saturday and Sunday, but I was able to have this Sunday off. My best friend Jamie moved to Texas last August, which is just stupid, but she came home to visit and so I took a day off to see her!

I left work Saturday night and drove straight to her house. It was pouring rain and usually I don't mind driving in the rain, but the visibility was awful. It was actually a little scary. So once I got to her house I wanted nothing but to cuddle in bed and drink wine with her. But our friend Beca pretty much said "F you we're going out." Haha. It was already late so we just went to Applebee's for appetizers and drinks. But you know what? I didn't take a picture - in typical Emily form. So I guess it didn't really happen, right? But here's a picture of us from my 21st birthday!

Sunday was the absolute best! We went to a Cubs spring training game with her mom, aunt, and sister.

They played the Royals and while I have no ties to either team, since Jamie is from Chicago, I obviously rooted for them. Meanwhile, I was singing Royals by Lorde the entire time and this happened:

I swear they both love me...

Afterwords we went to Portillo's which is an Illinois based fast-food restaurant. There are only a few of them outside of Illinois and thank goodness there are a couple in Arizona!! It was my first time eating there and I got a breaded chicken sandwich on a croissant with fries. It was absolutely delicious. It's probably a good thing the only two are over an hour away from me because it's a little expensive and I know I would want to eat there every day. If you ever get the opportunity to eat at Portillo's, you need to do it!

Unfortunately I had to work this morning so I wasn't able to spend another night with Jamie. It wasn't even 24 hours together, but I am just really happy that we got to see each other again. We're the kind of friends who can go months, and months, and months, without seeing each other but we're still able to pick up right where we left off, as if we had just seen each other the day before. It's unfortunate that we do go that long without seeing each other, but I love that we have that kind of friendship. Until July, best friend! Love you!

Beautiful Simplicities Lately

It has been quite a while since I have done a post like this - and I have realized lately that I really need to be focusing on the beautiful things in life rather than the negatives.

First hot chocolate of the season. Just...yum.

These adorable potted flowers for $5. As soon as I saw them I forgot what I was at the store for to begin with and bought these right away. Unfortunately they are now dead...RIP Cute Flowers.

The  memorial hill for 9.11 that UA does every year. I love how it's done and it causes everyone to stop and remember, if just for a few seconds.

My roommate and I bought rollerblades in our attempt to be more active. Plus, rollerblading is so nostalgic for me...if you did not rollerblade as a child, then you just didn't live right. ;)

And last but not least, FREE FOOD. One of the reasons I love my job is because we get free food a lot, which includes brownies every Friday. Again just...yum.

I hope you all have been able to see the beauty in simplicity lately! Let me know some of yours!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

I love when I find recipes that are simple. Especially now that the end of the semester is here, I have been far too lazy to make myself a super complex meal.

I have made these crockpot chicken tacos a few times, and they are delicious.

Yes...it's really only three ingredients!

Dump all this into your crockpot and mix it around a bit.

I have a smaller crockpot so I cut all this in half, which still makes a lot!

Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Once it's cooked, the chicken will shred easily, I just use a couple forks!

Then create your tacos! I took this picture from where I found the original recipe because it just looks so much prettier than mine did.

I like to add guacamole, sour cream, and shredded cheese!

It is super easy to make, and extremely delicious!

Linking Up: Try it Out Tuesday, Taste of Tuesday and Just Because

Taco Salad

Okay, this is one of my favorite foods to eat. It is so yummy, on the healthy side, and super easy to make. My mom has been making this for our family for a long time, and it is one of the few recipes I carried with me into college. Not because my mom doesn't make good food...it's because I'm usually too lazy to do anything more than mac & cheese for dinner. And not the regular kind, the Phineas and Ferb mac and cheese, thank you very much.

So here are the ingredients:

Honestly, you're just going to throw all those things in a bowl and call it good. PLEASE brown the meat. Unless you're into that kind of thing, eating raw meat and stuff. And then I would put it in the refrigerator for a while before serving. Other than that, you're golden. The brands are variable, use whatever you want. Ground turkey, ground beef, whatevs. I've used both. You can make a huge bowl and add all these things in by the handful if you have a family to serve, but since I cook for myself (this isn't really cooking, is it?) I just make one bowl at a time. 

And you can obviously eliminate or add anything you want. I haven't always made it with corn, and my mom usually adds tomatoes and red peppers to hers. It's one of those salads that you may not have thought of before, but is super easy to tailor to your taste buds.

Two Ingredient Cookies

As a student, I am very much on a budget. And being on a budget and wanting to cook all these delicious and fancy foods I see on Pinterest just don't go together. So when I can find a recipe that is delicious and cheap, well...that is just the best thing ever. So I stumbled upon this recipe and my first thought was: TWO INGREDIENTS?!? It seemed too good to be true, but I knew I had to try it. Luckily, nothing I had to buy was out of the ordinary. So here is what you need:

Two Large Bananas

1 Cup of Oats

Seriously...that's all you need!

*Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

1. Get two large bananas (using ones that are starting to brown on the peel are easiest to mix), one cup of oats (I used rolled oats because that's what I had in my pantry, but the recipe I found uses quick oats), and a large mixing bowl.

2. Throw the peeled bananas and cup of oats into the mixing bowl. (Okay, you don't have to throw...placing them nicely in the bowl will work, too.) I used a potato masher to mix the ingredients.

3. Okay, I know I said it was only two ingredients, and you can definitely keep it that way! But I decided to add cinnamon and chocolate chips. I used a teaspoon of cinnamon and just a handful of chocolate chips.

4. Mix all that together with a spoon!

5. Space them evenly on a greased cookie sheet. I just used my hands and shaped them into balls and tried to make sure they were all the same size.

Pop them in the oven for about 15 minutes and Voila! Delicious cookies that are cheap, simple, and healthy!

Read the original recipe for some extra tips (ex., not too runny, other add-ins, etc.)