Sweet T and a Honey B
Food, Fitness, and the Adventures That Make Life Sweet

Nacho Bar with Siete Cashew Queso

When it comes to ‘at home (insert your favorite food here) bar’ night – we tend to go all out at the Bolton house. I’m of the belief that calling it a ‘make your own’ or ‘ Do it yourself’ meal makes food 10X more fun to eat. Whether it’s paninis or grilled cheese, baked potatoes, parfaits, tacos, or most recently – nachos, I love serving up a dozen toppings and watching what everyone (okay, usually it’s just Bryan) adds to their plate. Our most recent nacho night included a complete game-changer when it comes to nacho toppings. I waited a long time for our local Whole Foods Market to carry Siete Food’s newest product-Cashew Queso. Siete Foods is easily one of my very favorite brands when it comes to authentic, but healthy, Latino food. We always have a package or two of my favorite almond flour tortillas and grain-free lime tortilla chips on hand (caution: it’s super easy to eat half the bag by yourself!). Growing up in a Mexican household myself, I ate (and still eat) a lot of corn based chips, tortillas, dishes, etc. While I personally don’t have a dietary need to eliminate grains or dairy, and often times still enjoy a good taco with corn tortillas, Siete products make it easy to enjoy my favorite dishes while eating real, good food that doesn’t leave me bloated after a meal. The queso  comes in two mouthwatering flavors, queso blanco and mild nacho, and you better believe I topped my nachos with a little of each 😉 

Nacho bar is best paired with a Friday night, a good movie, and a group of friends and/or family. Cook up a little chicken in some fajita sauce/marinade, and serve with black or pinto beans, green chiles, avocado slices, roasted peppers, and a little of your favorite Siete queso.

 

(We actually used normal tortilla chips during our recent nacho night. Our Whole Foods was completely out of Siete chips!). 

What are you favorite ‘DIY’ meals at home? Football season is coming and I think these will be on the Sunday menu A LOT. Am I missing any crucial nacho toppings? 

 

Honey B

 

It’s no secret that Bryan and I both share a love of country music and a good glass of whiskey. In fact, our wedding was centered around both. Our guests sat around centerpieces that included empty bottles of Jack Daniel’s filled with wildflowers (Yeah-Bryan and I, as well as our friends, drank quite a bit of whiskey in the year leading up to the big day) and the over arching theme was built around Blake Shelton’s sweet song, Honey Bee’. In addition to the various rustic touches, our signature drink also echoed our belief that both of us should have been born south of the Mason Dixon line. It was the dead of summer so there was no question that our drink should be refreshing, yet include a little of our beloved JD. Bonus – my new name was about to become Bolton. B for Bolton.. Honey B..Sweet T(eresa) and a Honey B(olton)…now you’re catching on.

It’s been nearly three years (holy cow!) since our wedding and I am just now sharing the beverage that partially inspired the name for my blog. And the beverage that we still make regularly.  I think it’s because we spent our entire weekend in the sunshine by our bonfire/grill with a lot of country music and these drinks on re-fill. There’s something about the promise of nice weather and a good fire that makes for the best of weekends. 

If you’re in doubt, I will say that the crew at the country club where we held our reception tell us they had never gone through so much whiskey in one night. We also had friends and family tell us they weren’t previously ‘whiskey people’ before that night – but now they are 😉 I promise that even if you aren’t one of those ‘whiskey people’, this one is worth giving a try.

Ingredients:

  • 2 parts whiskey
  • 1 part triple sec
  • yellow lemonade
  • handful of blueberries

Muddle a few blueberries at the bottom of a drinking glass (I think they taste best out of a mason jar, what else?), add in whiskey, triple sec, and lemonade. Garnish with a few extra bluebs & you’re good to go! 

Below is the sign (made from a tree slab sold at Hobby Lobby, a little chalkboard paint & a chalk marker) that we placed at the bar during the reception.

Aaaand now for a few photos of details from our perfect day.. photography by Gina and Tony of Gina + Tony Photographers If you are looking for wedding or portrait photography, I HIGHLY recommend Gina and Tony. We had decided we would ask them to photograph our wedding about two years before we even got engaged when we met them while they were photographing my cousin’s gorgeous wedding.  Their work is simply stunning and they pretty much kept us laughing the entire day. 🙂 

 

Lucky Number 27

Happy New Year! Happy 2018! I hope your NYE was filled with the best people, ridiculous noise makers, and champagne. I rung in the New Year in the city with my favorite man and some great friends… And a lot of that champagne. 

The last week of the year is a big one for me. Christmas followed by my birthday followed by celebrating a new year. This particular birthday I turned 27. My golden birthday. One year closer to another decade older. And the year I am expecting to be the best one yet. If anything, I know it’s going to be better than this one. Mom is healthy and looking to start some new adventures of her own, Hubs and I are selling our tiny condo and (hopefully!) buying a house, and overall I just think I am going in to the next 365 days with a better outlook than I ever have going in to a new year. If you’re wondering if this post is going to be the obligatory ‘resolutions’ post, you’re only a little bit right. I had no intention of writing anything related to resolutions until a couple of days ago when I zoned out during my morning workout and began thinking of what I wanted to get out of this year. I’m not really sure I’ve ever had any intentions, resolutions, or whatever you call its, going in to a new year. In some ways, I think it’s a good thing because I’ve never tried to completely change myself or my habits within first two months of the year and eight weeks later forget the ‘rules’ I promised myself I’d adhere to. I’d rather improve myself than change myself. 

With that said, I am beginning 2018, my 27th year, my lucky number 27.. with a set of goals, not resolutions, that I am confident I can achieve. I wanted to set goals for myself that were realistic and ones I would enjoy working towards. Sharing them and putting them down in writing…er…typing is the best way to hold myself accountable to taking care of my mind, body, and spirit in 2018. 

‘Self Care’

This term has been thrown around A LOT in social media and blogging world. The word itself may be a fad, but it’s one I actually believe in and one that I hope sticks around, especially for women. The latter half of 2017 brought on stress that at times because borderline paralyzing and I began to notice the stress take it’s toll on me physically. One wouldn’t believe the world of good a simple 50 minute massage one random weekend and face mask bar session at Scratchgoods with my best girlfriends did for me during some of the most difficult weeks. This is my promise to treat myself to something special like this, just for me, once a month, for the remainder of the year. 

Wear my FitBit Every Day

This might be an easier one because this is something I try my best to do as it is. I’ve realized how much this little device helps me because I’m pretty glued to my seat on the days I don’t wear it. I park further, get up more times to grab water at work, take a few extra stairs, etc. when I am wearing it. In turn, I have more energy and find my that my body feels overall a little better at the end of the work day. 

CycleBar..CycleBar…and more CycleBar

I didn’t think it would be easy to find something I love as much as running when it came to my workouts. More so, I didn’t think I would find something I loved as much AND was easy on my poor indefinitely injured runner’s knees. I found this in CycleBar. I’m not someone that needs a lot of ‘extra’ in my workout, but the neon lights alternating with complete darkness, incredible music and instructors, and 45 minutes of pure sweat, is amazing. The classes are a bit pricey but it’s 100% worth it. I leave each session feeling rejuvenated and like I left all of my stress behind in the studio. Here’s to leaving my stress in the studio as much as I can in 2018.

Take the Time to Stretch

This is necessary for an abundance of reasons. I can’t simply rely on the fact that I am young, flexible, and bounce back from an injury quickly anymore. Stretching is incredibly important for injury prevention and healing. And not to mention it feels pretty damn good. I’ve noticed that each time I finish a run, spin class, weight session, etc. I am in such a hurry to get home, shower, and continue on with my jam packed day that I don’t take the time my body needs to stretch and recover. It’s no surprise that I am stiff and sore the next day. I’d go so far as to put stretching in the ‘Self Care’ category because something as simple as a five minute stretch post-workout leaves not only my body feeling good, but slows down the cooling process so the endorphins keep me feeling energized a lot longer. 

Host a Coffee Brunch

I’m quickly becoming my mother when it comes to coffee (and most other things). She’s a certified coffee snob and I am following in her footsteps. I’m really loving the ‘art’ of coffee and espresso lately and you’ll find I’m rarely without a cup. I figure I could be addicted to worse things right? I enjoy seeking out local coffee shops to try because I find they put so much love in to their brew and baked treats. 

I’m excited to announce that I joined the ranks of espresso machine owners this season as my mom (naturally) bought me one for my birthday! I’m absurdly excited to try out various drinks with interesting flavoring pairings and find some new favorites. Once I develop a couple of go-tos with my beloved machine, I want to host a coffee brunch (is that a thing? I’m making it a thing) for friends with a couple of choice drinks, homemade baked goods, and the good ol’ simple cup of coffee choice with various mix ins and toppings. Coffee and entertaining are two of my favorite things and I think this would be a good year to pair the two!

Practice ‘Creative Lettering’

I’ve always had a thing for fonts and have a real admiration for people who can flawlessly address an envelope or gift tag and make it look professionally done. I think it’s important to learn something new all the time and this year I want to dip my toes in the art of creative lettering (sometimes referred to as faux-calligraphy). I received a gift certificate from my cousin for Christmas from Brit + Co, one of my favorite websites, for an online calligraphy class and couldn’t be more pumped to sit down and begin. I also purchased ‘Hand Lettering 101’ from ChalkFullofLove, another favorite blogger and small business owner to help me practice. I’ll be sending a lot more snail mail this year if I actually get the hang of it 😉 

Putting the Phone Down

I’ve been told once or 1,645,134 times by my husband that I’m glued to my phone. I can’t disagree, I am. I participate in conversations with people that poke fun at my generation for not being able to do anything without Googling it, Snapping it, Instagramming it, etc. but I am one of those people. On a very serious note, I am also guilty (as I am sure most of us are) of checking my phone now and then while I am driving. This is not okay. Finding a new playlist or seeing what my girlfriends texted me back can wait. I think I realized how attached I was to my phone when even I started getting annoyed at myself glancing at it in the car. I’m not sure how I will measure this goal other than just ‘putting it down’. I am promising myself to be more present whether this be date night with the husband, movie nights with my girlfriends, or my eyes on the road. 

I really hope you will join me in setting goals, not resolutions, for yourself this year. Your goals don’t always have to be weight loss or money saving related. What is a skill you’ve always wanted to learn but never had the time to? Is there a workout class, book club, or spa you’ve wanted to join/try out but couldn’t justify the time to yourself? Do you want to be more present at home and need to shut your laptop or phone an extra hour a day? Whatever your goals are, write them down, throw them on a note pad or post it and stick it to the fridge. Go the little extra mile to keep your promises to yourself this year. 

27 has always been my lucky number and this year is going to be no different.

 

 

 

‘Rad’ Christmas Gift Tags

For the last couple of years I have been really in to making my own gift tags for all of my Christmas packages. It’s a cute way to personalize gifts and while it takes a little longer than the sticky kind (don’t get me wrong, I still use those too!), I find that I actually save money and you can easily put something together that looks amazing while using minimal materials.

I used a little help from a company/brand called ‘Rad & Happy‘ for my gift tags this year. A good friend introduced me to this brand created by Tara, an incredibly talented and creative artist and blogger who designs just about the most adorable stationary, gift cards, coloring pages, apparel, and holiday items I’ve ever seen. She even offers a subscription service called ‘Rad Mail’ which allows you to get some of these goodies delivered to your door monthly! This year, Tara created a font called ‘Rad Tidings’ (I know.. I know.. I’m even in love with the name). Ordering,downloading, and installing this font was as easy as 1,2,3. From there all I had to do for my gift tags was type the names of all of my friends and family in a word document. I a PDF of all of the names over to my local OfficeMax to print on white cardstock (less than $1) and within an hour I was able to pick up the sheets!

From there, I carefully cut out all of the names and backed them on Kraft cardstock (A little known fact about me, I LOVE kraft paper/cardstock and use it for just about everything…including last’ year’s tags 😉 ). For gift bags and small cookie boxes, I used a hole punch and some gold or candy striped twine (found for 60% off at Michael’s this time of year) and for large wrapped presents, I found a cute roll of Christmas washi tape (also 60% off at Michael’s) to help me stick the tags on my gifts.  

It’s so simple to make a big statement when giving your loved ones Christmas (or birthday, annivesary, etc.) packages. Taking a few extra minutes to personalize when it comes to the wrapping puts a little extra love in your gift!

5 days left until Christmas y’all! I hope this last week is a merry one and that you enjoy this time with your family and friends!

Chickpea and Avocado Salad

Fall has officially peeked his head in on us in the Midwest and the pumpkins and apples are popping up everywhere. I’ve never been so ready for an entire season in my life and although I’m almost 100% certain I was the first person in line to order a #PSL, this season certainly brings on some new challenges. My husband officially began grad school last week and since the new dance season has started for me, we basically don’t see each other until Thursday of each week (we now look forward to ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ and ‘This is Us’ On Demand dates). Our hectic schedules have forced me to think even simpler when it comes to mealtime so that our eating stays on track. As a result, baked chicken with various side dishes has been on heavy rotation. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with different ingredients and sometimes our favorite dishes have come from throwing whatever vegetables, oils/dressings, and cheeses we have left towards the end of the week. 

It’s no surprise I had a couple extra cans of chickpeas in my pantry last week as I’ve recently been finding every excuse to use them in different dishes. These little guys come with good amounts of protein and fiber and also aid in digestion. I combined a can of these with some thick chunks of avocado, and just a few other ingredients it was really flavorful. Judging by how fast my husband ate his portion, he certainly gave it two thumbs up!

 

Ingredients

  • 1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed. Pat dry
  • 2 avocados, diced
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onion
  • 3 oz crumbled goat cheese
  • juice from 1 lime
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • salt to taste

 

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a spatula or wooden spoon. Enjoy!

 

Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by combining random ingredients? What’s been your favorite creation?

 

Happy Weekending!