Category: Women

Food, Uncategorized, Women

Apple crisp recipe

Hannah Lucio

I have loved making Apple crisp for the longest time. Our family just went apple picking last weekend and it was so much fun. Here is the recipe that I made. Hope you try it out, it is now our family favorite. Our son loves to cook with me….or eat what I’m trying to make ha ha

   
 

Ingredients:

10 medium apples

1/2 cup white sugar 

1 Tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup oats (I used regular not quick oats)

1 cup flour

1 1/4 packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, melted
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place the sliced apples In a large mixing bowl. Mix the white flour, cinnamon and allspice together and sprinkle it on top of the apples. Mix the apples thoroughly to make sure all apples are coated. Place apples in a 9×13 inch pan or oven safe pan similar to that size. Pour 1/2 cup water in the pan, I tried not to our it on to many apples. This is so the apples stay coated and the water helps the apples bake better. 

In mixing bowl; mix oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Mix with a wooden spoon until it is all “wet” looking.  

 
Sprinkle oats mixture over apples, make sure it is evenly spread. 

  
Place in preheated oven and bake for 45-60 minutes. Apples should be soft. Mine took 60 minutes because I cut apples a little bit thicker. Just check yours at 45 minutes and gauge the cook time from there. 

Take out and enjoy! We love our hot and with vanilla ice cream. 

  

Enjoy and live simple!


 

Uncategorized, Women

Apple picking and family fun at the farm

Hannah Lucio

We had our first “outing” here in Virginia since we moved here a few months ago. We wanted to do a fun family day and came across Great Country Farms in Bluemont. They had a lot to offer at the farm so we picked that place to go. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and it was an incredible drive. There wasn’t a part of that drive that was ugly or yucky to drive through. I believe we found a new location to live when we buy a house again. The new homes here are incredible and you get so much! The prices aren’t the cheapest for new homes but I’d rather get a new home here than California any day. I never thought I’d say that but it’s true!  This just a glimpse of how gorgeous the drive was.  

land, farms, cute towns and amazing homes on this drive
 
 
one lane bridge
 
When we got the the farm you have to pay admission but since my husband is a veteran we all got in for free. I absolutely love places that recognize veterans, you’d be surprised by how many place only give discounts to active military. The first place we went was straight to the tractors. Our son love all boy things, seriously.   

  
Then off to the cow ride that gets pulled by a tractor.  

 
They were excited ha ha. 

They climbed the tire hill 

 
And so much more to list. The last place we went was on the tractor so we could go pick apples. This was our first time picking apples and it was fun but so fast. We were exhausted from the farm fun and it was the hottest part of the day. Here are a few pictures to show you how much he loved the tractor ride. 

   

  
   

He was hot so I took his shirt off for the ride back. 

 
We got a bunch of apples and their apple cider donuts.  

 Holy macaroni the donuts were so darn good. I need to learn how to make them. The first thing I made with our apples was Apple crisp. So darn yummy!!! I’m going to post the recipe next.

I highly recommend this farm if you are looking for a fun place to go with the family. We are hoping to go back for Halloween fun. 

Love life and live simple

 

 

Food, Women

Easy Football foods

Hannah Lucio

Well, football is officially here and this house is very excited! We are on the east coast now So our games are later and we have to stay up super late to finish the games. A bummer but it means we need more snack foods. I posted a flautas recipe yesterday that would be perfect for snacking on. Today I am sharing my 7 layer bean dip and a look at our football pizza. I make the same recipe for the pizza but just change the ingredients or look. Its fun and cooking should be fun! Here is what our football pizza looked like before I put it in the oven

football pizza….and have to admit, we were so hungry that I forgot to take an after picture ha ha It was absolutely yummy though. Ill take a picture next time.

On to the bean dip recipe.

7 Layer Bean Dip

Ingredients:

Black bean refried beans (or regular refried beans)

Cheese sauce (I used tostitos)

Ground beef (I used taco seasoning for flavoring)

Avocado mashed up

sour cream

shredded cheese

olives

Directions:

In a 9×9 pan spread black beans (the first layer) on the bottom. Next spread cheese sauce over the black beans. Sprinkle the ground beef mixture on top of the cheese. Next, carefully spread the mashed up avocados over the meat. Next, even more carefully spread the sour cream on top of the avocados. I try not to move the avocado mixture when spreading the sour cream so it looks better. Sprinkle on the shredded cheese and after that sprinkle on the olives. And voila! Done! bean dip 4

Dish it up and enjoy. It is super easy, yummy and something you can eat throughout the day. This is one of my favorite football foods.

Enjoy and Live simple!

Go Saints!!

Food, Uncategorized, Women

Easy Baked flautas

Hannah Lucio

I wanted to use ingredients I had on hand and came across flautas online. I’ve had them at restaurants but have never attempted homemade. I came up with my own version and they turned out so yummy! Here’s my recipe, feel free to use your own ingredients you have on hand. But this is a really yummy mixture. Also, if you are looking for footbal foods this would be perfect! 

Ingredients:

1 package of flour tortillas

3-4 cups spinach

Ground beef (I flavored it with taco seasoning) 

Brown rice

Shredded cheese

1 cup black beans, drained 

1-2 tsp olive oil 

Softened butter or olive oil for coating

A glass of wine or a beer-to drink while your cooking of course! Cooking should be fun! 
Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Cut up tortillas into quarters
  • Chop up spinach and put into a pan on the stove. Add 1 tsp of olive oil and cook until wilted, about 3-5 minutes. 
  • Mix ground beef, black beans and brown rice together
  • Put a small amount of ground beef mixture onto the outer curved part of the quartered tortilla. Next to it (on the inside) add a small amount of spinach. After that put a small amount of shredded cheese. Here is what mine looked like 
    ground beef mixture, spinach and cheese
     
  • Roll up from the outside in and place on a pre-sprayed cookie sheet. Continue until you fill the pan up. 
  • Take softened butter or olive oil and rub onto flautas. This is to make sure the flautas get crispy or flaky. Mine looked like this. I tried both to compare. I like the olive oil a little bit better but they both taste amazing.   
  • Put into oven for 15 minutes, take the, out and enjoy! They should look like this  
    This is the finished product comparison. They look similar.
     

I served them with cheese sauce, sour cream and avocado. 
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do! 

Love life and live simple.

Food, Uncategorized, Women

Rainy day schedule means I get to cook and bake more

Hannah Lucio

Here in Virginia we get a lot of rain! I am not used to all this rain because we lived in California just a few short months ago……and it hardly rains there. We are absolutely loving Virginia and hope to stay for a long time. Luckily we have a gym where we live so I can still be active indoors instead of the normal outdoors. I have to workout a lot so I can eat a lot. Ha! 

Today I make some really yummy cookies, it was a new recipe and I will post it on here soon. It was peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies. I know, I make a lot of cookies but I can’t help it. They are a family favorite! Here is a sneak peak Athlon they came out.  

  Right now I am in the process of making my own version of flautas, I am really excited! This is my first time and it’s not all the usual ingredients. I like to change things up.  I will post the recipe and how they came out later tonight. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far, I know we are! Stay tuned for the cookie recipe and the flautas recipe 🙂 this is a sneak peak picture of one ingredient in the flautas.  

chopped spinach

See you again soon! Live happy and always live simple! 

Food, Uncategorized, Women

What an fun Labor Day weekend

Hannah Lucio

We just recently moved to Virginia and we are having a blast so far. I have always wanted to move out of California! Always! People told me throughout my entire life that I’d miss the beach, California has the best weather and always ask-why would you want to move out of California? Life is also beautiful outside of California! We love it here. We recently discovered Cub Run trail, it is one awesome trail! There are a few bridges and you can actually ride your bike through the water if you like. Here are a few pictures so you can see how amazingly beautiful it is here! 
   
    
    
    
 
Some pictures are a bit blurry because I was actually riding and taking pictures ha ha A bit dangerous but fun. Here are some pictures of us on the bike ride.

   
   

We went on a few bike rides this weekend and logged almost 20 miles altogether. If we weren’t this active I’d be 200 lbs y’all lol hope you enjoy the picture! We had a blast biking and bbqing on this amazing Labor Day weekend! 
Be active and live simple. 

Food, Uncategorized, Women

The best Oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookie recipe

Hannah Lucio

I have been searching for a really good oatmeal raisin cookie recipe and I finally found it….but added a few things. I hope you make these and enjoy them as much as our family is. 

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter (I leave mine on the counter all night or during the day to naturally soften)

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly pressed

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla (sometimes I add 3 tsp, more the better )

3 cups oats (regular oats not instant)

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup raisins
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together; butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. 

Whisk together; flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and add to wet ingredients. To help the flour from being over mixed I mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon. If you mix the flour ingredients to much it will make the cookies flat and harder. 

Add chocolate chips, oatmeal and raisins. Mix slowly and not to much. 

Use a cookie scoop to on baking sheet. I have three different sized cookie sheets and on the biggest one I have 3 cookies across and 5 cookies down. 

Cook for 12-14 minutes. Since I put in 3 baking sheets I rotate the cookie sheets so the cookies cook evenly. 

Take out, place on a cooling rack and try not to eat to many ha ha

 

dry ingredients, mixed before adding to wet ingredients
  
wet ingredients, creamed and ready for dry ingredients to be mixed in
  
Dry ingredients hand mixed with a wooden spoon into the wet ingredients
  
chocolate chip, oatmeal, raisins hand mixed into the wet and dry ingredients
  
oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip cookies finished.
  
try not to eat to many at one time 😉
 

Enjoy and live simple!

Food, Uncategorized, Women

Friday pizza night

Hannah Lucio

Our family tradition is to have Friday pizza nights. It’s like a celebration for making it through the workweek. Yes, I do not go to a corporate job but I am always on call 24/7 so we all get to celebrate our work week 😉  so Friday I decided to make a pineapple, broccoli and red bell pepper pizza. Holy cow it was amazing! 

I used my pizza recipe that I posted on my blog. For the toppings I pre cooked them on the stove until they were just barely cooked. I added about a Tbsp of olive oil to add some healthy fats in there. 

  

I have to say, if your are looking to make some yummy, easy and simple pizza this is perfect! Our family loves this pizza recipe and sometimes we make it more than once a week. This is the end products and I wish I made more, maybe tomorrow……ha ha 

  

Enjoy and live simple! 

Food, Uncategorized, Women

It’s pizza time!

Hannah Lucio

This is the easiest and yummiest pizza recipe I have made so far! I absolutely love making homemade pizza from scratch and I have different toppings every time! This is a must make recipe 😃

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp yeast (freischmann’s active dry yeast) 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp granulated garlic

4 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine water, sugar and yeast into mixing bowl. I have found that the best way to have a no fail yeast rising is to warm up the bowl you are going to put it in first. I put really hot water in the bowl and let it sit for a minute, dump it out and then add the ingredients. Let it rise for about 5-10 minutes.

 

yeast mixture after 5 minutes
 
Add salt, garlic and flour and mix well. Dough sound not be super sticky. 

I put 1/2 cup flour on a dry and clean surface and roll out into whatever shape you are making your pizza. Today we did a rectangle pan pizza. We do circle, rectangle and hearts normally. 

 

dough on 1/2 cup floured surface
  
doug rolled out into a rectangle-ish shape. I dont try for perfection.
 
Place dough in a greased pan. I use the Kirkland brand of Pam. 

I roll the sides in

Put on ingredients. I used semi cooked broccoli and onions today. I normally use what we have on hand to save money. 

Place pizza in preheated oven at 425 degrees. I cook the pizza on the second rack from the bottom for 20 minutes and the. I put it on the top rack for 7 more minutes. 

Take it out, cut it up and enjoy!

   
 This really is such a yummy pizza it’s hard to just eat two pieces! 

From start to finish it took me a little less than one hour. 
Enjoy and live simple!

Food, Uncategorized, Women

Chocolate chip cookies

Hannah Lucio

Ok first, make yourself a cup of black coffee. No seriously, that’s one of the ingedients that make this recipe so yummy. If you don’t like coffee or do not have coffee don’t worry, just use hot water instead. But it really make the flavor pop in chocolate chip cookies. 

Second, turn on some music! My son and I love listening to Taylor Swifts station on iheartradio. If at anytime a fun song that you love to dance to or your kids love to dance to just take a break and dance with them. It makes life fun and it’s a great bonding experience with your kids. When Shake It Off comes on we always dance around the room, it’s so much fun! 

Ok back to the cookies 🙂
I found this recipe online and changed it a bit, just like almost all recipes I find.  
Ingredients:

1 Cup softened butter (I’ll leave mine out all day to naturally soften) 

1 Cup white sugar

1 Cup Packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp hot black coffee

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Dissolve baking soda in hot coffee in a bowl and set aside. 
  • Put butter, white sugar and brown sugar in mixing bowl. Mix until creamy and smooth 
  • Beat in eggs one at a time
  • Add to the coffee and baking soda mixture along with salt and vanilla, mix together
  • Stir in flour until it is blended together but do not over mix. 
  • Add chocolate chips and mix with wooden spoon 
  • Use cookie scoop (I use the Wilton 8″ stainless steel cookie scoop) to put cookies on cookie sheet. I have three different cookie sheet sizes and the biggest one I put 3 cookies across and 5 down
  • Bake for about 11 minutes or until edges are nicely brown. 
  • When done let them sit on the cookie sheet for a minute to relax and then put them onto cooling rack. 

 

Enjoy a hot cup of black coffee while baking, might as well since the cookies need them anyway 🙂
  
One heaping cup of chocalate chips. We use a tad bit more chocolate chips than the norm
  
Maverick loves chocolate chips!
  
Cookie scoop. Space the cookies a bit
  
let the cookies relax a minute before taking them off, they have been through a lot ha ha
  
Finished product. So yummy!
  
Maverick approves!
 

I updated my cookie recipe because I made a few changes and my goodness! They are even more amazing now. This is the updated cookie recipe finished product

  
Hope you enjoy the newer changes to the recipe.
Enjoy and live simple!