Thursday, March 29, 2018

Monday, March 26, 2018

March Coffee Date

We’re already coming to the end of March which means…

A) SUMMER IS SO CLOSE I CAN LITERALLY TASTE IT!!!

B) It’s been a minute! We should catch up! Coffee Date style.

Spring drinks of choice have been mango kale smoothies (I’m hopping back on the train!), iced crafted press-es from Caribou, green tea lemonades, and iced royal tea lattes from Sencha but let’s be honest, that never changes. I even had a rogue WATERMELON juice the other day that was so good and so summery it almost made me cry.

But today, for this “coffee date,” I am actually drinking a big ol jug of minty cucumber water! Um, yeah. It’s taking my entire life up a few notches. More on that in a second.

Let’s chat about March.

I Switched To Beautycounter And I Wasn’t SUper Impressed.

SAY WHAT? I know. Call me crazy, but especially for the skincare, I don’t think I would spend the money again. I just didn’t love the products enough to justify the extra cost, especially when I feel like I can find other clean skincare alternatives that work just as well at more of a drugstore-level price. The lotion never really hydrated my face and the cleansers didn’t feel like anything special to me.

The good news is that even if my Beautycounter skincare spree was kind of a bust, I have found a lot of clean beauty products over the last few years that I can strongly recommend:

Burt’s Bees Sensitive Face Wash – Clean, easy to find, and affordable.
Burt’s Bees Milk and Honey Body Lotion – Ditto.
100% Pure Potent PM Serum
100% Pure Fruit Pigmented 2nd Skin Foundation – Okay, I LOVE THIS STUFF. I only recently started wearing foundation in the last few years and it has been a game-changer. This one is so lightweight and it feels so much better and more natural than anything else I’ve tried. I use Shade 4.
100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Long Last Concealer in Peach Bisque
100% Pure Long Last Brows in Blonde
100% Pure Creamy Long Last Liner in Blackest
100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Pretty Naked II Palette
Pacifica Mascara – Annoying, because I would have really preferred to keep it all in the 100% Pure family, but the 100% Pure mascara stung in my eyes.
Beautycounter Mattifying Powder – LOVE because I have very oily skin.
Beautycounter Bronzer

Also worth mentioning that last year I used the Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum as my night-time moisturizer and I really liked it. If you want a skincare splurge and you’re into oils, it’s luxurious and lovely.

Okay, are you a clean makeup / skincare enthusiast? What are your favorite products? Does anyone have a good clean shampoo recommendation? That’s one I haven’t found yet.

Also, tell me what you think about Beautycounter. Are you a fan? I love their other stuff (listed above), and if I didn’t mind dropping $50 every month, I would totally buy their lemon sugar scrub on the regular. It was just the skincare that wasn’t right for me.

1A. Eyelash Extension Update

I didn’t keep them up. They’re gone. Too expensive. Too time-consuming. Very pretty, but not worth it for me. End of story.

I Need To Drink More Water.

Like, we probably all do. So I’m trying a few hacks.

Adding mint, cucumber, lemon, and other yummies to my water each day. Kind of obvious, but for me it’s a good place to start.
Drinking out of a peppy 20 ounce tumbler with a straw. Just more pleasant, IMHO.
Only refilling when I’m finished with my existing water so I can track how much I’m actually drinking.

My goal is three of those guys per day (plus additional water from juice, coffee, soups, fruit/veg, etc.), which probably isn’t all that lofty of a goal, but to me it feels kind of epic.

Anyone got any other get-yourself-to-drink-more-water-hacks that I should know about?

Bullet Journal Is Life.

I have gone back and forth and back again on every kind of calendar out there, and I think the Bullet Journal has had more staying power for me than all the other methods combined. Here’s why: it’s customizable. You can make it be what you need / want it to be. If you need specific time slots, add specific time slots. If you need it loose, just keep it loose.

Here’s what mine looks like at the beginning of the week, when I put in my scheduled events with a little circle and leave space for the rest of the week to fill up as needed:

And at the end of the week:

I use a modified version of this Bullet Journaling shortcode to keep track of what I’ve done, what needs to still get done, what I decided not to do, etc. Bullet Journals are good for people who like to kind of build their own thing. It is basically a next-level to-do list that is highly personal and doubles as a calendar and/or a journal.

How do you keep your life organized? Do you use a physical planner / journal / calendar?

I Made Myself a Mini-Jungle-SPa In My Office And It Makes Me Feel Happy.

Chair, diffuser on side table, and plant shelves over top. That’s all you need to make a jungle spa in your very own home. This corner of my office is my favorite place EVER! It’s where I sit in the morning to just kind of center myself before the day starts. Music, journal, pray, meditate, read, avoid email, all of the above.

It’s also where I pile the junk that I don’t know what to do with. Very handy for that.

What’s your happiest place in your home?

We Got a TV!

We didn’t have one (2009-2013), then we had one (2013-2014), then we didn’t have one again (2014-2018), and now we have one again (2018)! This is our struggle. Thank you for understanding.

What is your TV set up? Any no-TV-ers in the house?!?!

That’s all from me!

But that’s not all from Sage.

She would like to look into your eyes and say HEY! You’re gettin’ it done! You’re working hard! You’re rising above! YOU ARE AWESOME!

She would also like you to know that even when you make mistakes, you can always try again.

And she will be trying again in April.

Sage loves you guys.

Cheers to a great coffee (tea / latte / cucumber water) date! See you next month.

The post March Coffee Date appeared first on Pinch of Yum.

from Pinch of Yum https://ift.tt/2DVf365

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Ham, Egg, and Cheese Brunch Cups

Monday, March 19, 2018

We’re Hiring: Video Specialist

Happy Monday, friends!

Fun news today: we’re hiring! We are looking for someone to join our team as a Video Specialist.

We are a small team, so adding someone to the team is a big and exciting deal.

Lindsay – me! hello again. I’m the blog content creator and voice of Pinch of Yum.
Bjork – my husband! ♡ He manages a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff for all of our businesses.
Jenna – our Pinch of Yum Communications Manager. She is email / brand communications / organizer of everything.
Krista – our Pinch of Yum Shoot Assistant. The beautiful hands you see in our food videos? Hers.
Alexa – our Food Blogger Pro Manager. Editing the podcast, managing the forum, planning the content. She does it all!
Raquel – our Food Blogger Pro Web Developer & Product Manager. She heads up the development of the Food Blogger Pro website and also manages the product creation and support at WP Tasty.
Jasmine – our Food Blogger Pro Affiliate Program Manager. She runs the Food Blogger Pro Affiliate program and also designs graphics for the FBP blog.
Sage – mascot and master treat hog.

video specialist Job Description

Position Title: Video Specialist

Primary Job Description: To film and edit recipe videos.

Secondary Job Description: To assist with other creative and administrative tasks as needed (we are a small team, so lots of us wear multiple hats), and to serve as the resident Video Expert on our learning site, Food Blogger Pro.

Hours: 40 hours/week

Compensation: Dependent on qualifications

Starting Date: April or May 2018

Location: Preference will be given to candidates who are local to Minneapolis/St. Paul. HOWEVER, if you’re not local, and you think you’d be a good fit for this job, and you are comfortable with the idea of making and recording videos in your own kitchen, we’d still love to have you submit an application.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Making, filming, and editing food
Equipment set up and take down
Partnering with brands for sponsored videos
Occasional recipe and content development
Occasional social and content strategy
Teaching bloggers how to create their own videos
Daily communication with our team

Looking for a Person Who Is:

Motivated
Hard-working
Efficient
Food-loving
Experienced with filming and editing
Able to work creatively within directives
Able to take initiative on projects without direct supervision
Friendly and fun and loves dogs!!

To Apply:

Produce a 1 minute or less video of your favorite Pinch of Yum recipe. Upload the video to YouTube as a private video and share it with us.
Send your resume and starting salary to jenna@pinchofyum.com and include another link to your video, just to make sure we got it.

The videos will be evaluated on creativity, style, and alignment with the Pinch of Yum brand.

The application deadline is Sunday, April 1 at 11:59pm CST.

If the position sounds like the right fit for you, SCORE! We want to hear from you! Please apply.

If not, will you share this job opportunity with your friends who are food-loving video people? The ones that would love a job working with yummy food on the internet? The ones who would just so totally thrive in a position like this?

Thank you, thank you! We are so excited to add to our team again.

The post We’re Hiring: Video Specialist appeared first on Pinch of Yum.

from Pinch of Yum http://ift.tt/2G290lp

Monday, March 12, 2018

10 Clean Eating Recipes For a Happy Spring

I can never really make up my mind about spring.

It’s sloshy and muddy and wet. The snow looks dirty. It’s never quite warm enough. It’s a sunny 50 degrees one day, and we’re preparing for a snow emergency the next day. But on the other hand… it’s not negative five hundred degrees anymore! That is a win. It’s warm enough to make you want to take off your mittens and a hat by the end of your walk. The days are getting longer and everything outside smells like sweet rain, grass, and dirt.

So, as is usually the case around this time of year, I’m on the fence about this strange transition season into summer. However. The one thing I’m not really on the fence about is SPRING FOOD.

And my spring recipe checklist is any and all of the following:

Crunchy
Tangy
Colorful
Crunchy x2
Bright
Cold, or Cold/Warm Combo
Textural (i.e. that chopped salad pizza – it’s at the end of the list)
And Crunchy x3

I feel like this is the season where my mouth full wakes up after a few delicious but mushy months wading through soups and stews and all the comforting food of winter.

So I am full-on embracing the crunch! I am diving headfirst into all the color and the texture and the flavor that makes your mouth pucker just a tiny bit. If you’re feeling me, these clean eating recipes are my recommendations for a happy spring!

Spring Detox Cauliflower Salad

Hi! It me. In salad form. This salad is the happiest spring recipe I can think of. It’s inspired by a recipe from The First Mess, so naturally it’s loaded with all kinds of vegetable texture, crunch, and color such as: riced cauliflower, sliced apples, roasty chickpeas, avocado, fistfuls of herbs, and a mustardy dressing. It is SO GOOD. And so necessary for spring.

Click here for the Spring Detox Cauliflower Salad recipe.

Spring Roll Bowls with Sweet Garlic Lime Sauce

I have had a mad craving for spring rolls these last few weeks, and when I just can’t bring myself to chop and soak and roll, I just toss everything in a bowl with some rice noodles instead. I like to eat this nice and cold and lime-y and crunchy. HAPPY FEELS.

Click here for the Spring Roll Bowls Recipe.

Avocado Egg Salad

First of all, THE EVERYTHING BAGEL. Secondly, this avocado egg salad is life. Just mash some avocados, toss in some hard boiled eggs (hello, Easter) and add some herbs, lemon juice, and salt. YUM to the max. See also: I love everything bagels.

Click here for the Avocado Egg Salad recipe.

Berry Chia Overnight Oats

This is an oats meets smoothie meets chia pudding mash-up in the best possible way. Also, it’s pink and it’s pretty. Also, you can put it in a stemless wine glass and feel fancy about it. These are my essentials for a happy spring.

Click here for the Berry Chia Overnight Oats recipe.

Yummy Salmon Burgers with Slaw, Duh

This might sound 90% crazy but I love this as much for the quick and crunchy slaw as I do for those crispy, salty salmon burgers. This recipe comes together in literally 15 minutes and it is everything I want in a spring meal. Filling, nutritious, and DANG GINA yummy.

Click here for the Salmon Burgers with Slaw recipe.

Korean BBQ Yum Yum Rice Bowls

I make variations on this recipe constantly – burritos, tacos, etc. – but the essentials are this: reeeeally flavorful, tender, pull-apart meat, steamy white or brown rice, and something very crunchy – slaw, kimchi, whatever ya got. I, of course, like to be a little dramatic with my food so I always top it off with a thick drizzle of yum yum sauce or spicy mayo and a hit of peanuts, herbs, lime, and maybe sesame seeds. Overkill? More like overawesome. Pro Tip: Make your meat in the slow cooker. It’s SO yummy.

Click here for the Korean BBQ Rice Bowl recipe.

Detox Rainbow Roll Ups With peanut Sauce

These beauties can be wrapped with anything, but I like to use a big ol collard leaf because spring! health goals! crunchy and fresh! Everything gets layered with curry hummus and fresh veggies (spring roll style!) and then you dip them into peanut sauce. Thank you and goodnight.

Click here for the Detox Rainbow Roll Ups recipe.

Perfect Baked Salmon And Lentils

Gosh, I love this recipe. You literally put everything in the oven together and then make a quick lemon sauce (SPRING) and then poof! You have this gorgeous, healthy dinner. The pink in the picture is a pile of sweet, tangy purple sauerkraut that I would highly recommend you make or buy. It rounds the whole thing out into color, texture, and flavor bliss.

Click here for the Perfect Baked Salmon and Lentils recipe.

Goddess Curry Chicken Salad

We meet again, Everything Bagel. I can’t not. You know this about me. I am normally not a big fan of chicken salad which is why THIS chicken salad is a pretty big deal, okay? This chicken salad is legit. It is made with Greek yogurt, but not in a way that tastes overly healthy, because we add some olive oil in there to keep the good fats going. There are golden raisins, cilantro, pistachios (surprise!), and plenty of juicy curry-spiced chicken. It is my favorite of all chicken salads.

Click here for the Goddess Curry Chicken Salad recipe.

Chopped Salad Pizza

I have not been able to get this out of my mind lately. Basically this involves an EXCELLENTLY tangy, crunchy, textural chopped salad with the works (we’re talking pepperoncinis and salami and kalamatas and feta and chickpeas and homemade Italian dressing) that is assembled on top of a lightly-sauced-and-cheesed crunchy flatbread pizza crust. In full disclosure, I didn’t make my own flatbread, but if you wanted to be 100% on the clean eating thing, you could do that and we’d all super admire you. OH MY SALAD this is so good.

Click here for the Chopped Salad Pizza recipe.

Okay, tell me.

Have you made any of these recipes? What are your other spring recipe faves?

FEED MEEEEE.

The post 10 Clean Eating Recipes For a Happy Spring appeared first on Pinch of Yum.

from Pinch of Yum http://ift.tt/2HpkRqy

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Date Night Mushroom Fettuccine

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Sage in February

Believe it or not, February has been a pretty low-key month for Sage.

I mean, as you might remember from every picture taken of her ever, low-key is kind of her approach to life.

Snuggly? Gentle? Nap Champion? Check yes, yes, and yes.

Also – Awkward? Nervous? Never quite comfortable with the camera? Yeah, all of that, too.

As much as Sage loves the occasional sprint through the dog park, she really shines in an indoor environment packed with couches, blankets, and treats.

She has always been a back sleeper – like, the kind of back sleeper where her legs stick straight out in every direction – and as Bjork and I did some research, we were not surprised to read that “when a dog is doing the Crazy Legs, they are letting their family know that they feel 100% comfortable and safe in their environment.”

Yeah, that sounds about right, Sageroontoons.

Sage’s big win this month has been playing fetch. She has always been afraid of a) balls, and b) the heating vents in our house, which makes fetch difficult as the balls often roll over the vents and immediately the game is done. But my mom got her a tiny squeaky stuffed animal that is supposedly infused with lavender, “promoting relaxation with each squeak” – lol – and now she wants to play fetch.

Okay, WANTS to play is a stretch. It took some work aka treats to get her to figure out what she was exactly supposed to do, but now I can toss her little stuffie across the room and she knows that she’s supposed to go over and pick it up.

This is her I-don’t-know-why-you-think-this-is-fun-but-I’ll-do-it-for-a-treat face:

Sage’s one big challenge this month has been – and will continue to be – dropping a few of those sweater-bod pounds that she’s accumulated over the last few months. I am not gonna lie – her second, third, and fourth chin rolls are getting pretty extreme. The vet tells us that the rolls are less of a concern, but the overall extra weight (in her case, a solid 3-5 lbs.) should probably be addressed. So Sage’s fitness future is looking like a combination of a little less food and a few more walks around the ‘hood.

Mostly, Sage is a queen and we love her.

Here’s a peek at her February highlights.