Starbucks Blended Strawberry Lemonade

March 19, 2015March 19, 201513 Comments

There are many times where we go into a Starbucks or Jamba Juice and someone orders a drink you had never heard of. Did you just miss it on the menu? Or did they just come up with something off the top of their head?

Well…a little bit of both.

These are normally secret menu items. Items that the restaurant may know how to make, but at the same time, the restaurant may not know how the drink is made. You can either take a chance on if they know the drink or you can find a recipe online.

Or, I can make it even easier.

Thanks to hackthemenu.com, anyone can see secret items and how they are made. And I have taken a challenge to try all of these drinks from Starbucks and Jamba Juice, write a review of the drink for you, then attempt to make it myself with recipes online, and finally have people (roommates and family) taste the real version and the fake version and see if they can tell the difference.

This should be fun to see what happens, thought it may not be so fun on my wallet

Blended Strawberry Lemonade

Let me start off by saying that this is a very popular drink. So much so, that this is the drink I normally order when it is 150+° in California.

I don’t think the Central Valley has ever reached 150+°, but you get the point.

This is a no coffee drink which is perfect for those who despise the taste of coffee. It is smooth and icy, which helps to cool you off in the summer. You can order just a plain Strawberry Lemonade, but where would be the fun in that? The Strawberry Lemonade, un-blended, is a nice drink if you want it to accompany your lunch or dinner.

But we are talking about the Blended Strawberry Lemonade, so let’s go and review that.

This drink is absolutely delicious. It is cool and icy, so it has a slushie taste to it. The drink will stay cool, unless you leave it for a very long time to warm up. It is also a drink that kids could have since there is no coffee This drink is also a fairly priced, less than $4 for a Venti. And finally, you can add other flavors to this drink, like mocha and white chocolate. My personal favorite is mocha because you then get a chocolate covered strawberry drink.

So when you go to Starbucks, you can go ahead and say you want this drink. No need to bring your own recipe. The baristas know the drink, so go ahead and order away.

This is just the beginning of this kind of blog. There are so many secret menu items, and I will take the time to try them all. Let me know in the comments if there is an item on the secret menu that you want me to try.

Yummy St. Patrick’s Day Salad

March 17, 2015Leave a comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We have a special edition for you just for the holiday! This is such a simple recipe! You can whip it up in no time!

The ingredients:

8 oz. container of whipped cream
1 box (34 oz.) Pistachio Jello Pudding
1 can crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup small marshmallows
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Your ingredients

Place all ingredients in a bowl. Don’t add milk to the pudding-just the powder.

Place all ingredients in a bowl

MIx it all together!

Mix it up!

That’s it! So simple! You can eat it right away, but it tastes better after it’s chilled and the flavors have melded together.

Serve it up!

Enjoy!

I hope you have a great day!

My Springtime Tablescape

March 16, 2015March 16, 20158 Comments

Spring fever is running high here! The weather is beautiful and it is so nice to have it be light later into the evening. I love to spend time outside, but it is still pretty cool in the evenings. So instead, I decorated the dining room table (actually the only table I have).

My Dining Room

I received this table from my grandparents. They bought it when they first got married in 1928. Unfortunately the top is pretty scratched up and scarred from when the girls were little. I am still trying to decide if I want to refinish it or paint it. The original chairs have been put into storage. They were getting a bit creaky from too much use, so I hope one day to release them and bring them back into my home.

Springtime Table

I covered the table with a white tablecloth and then added green/turquoise napkins. I draped them over the side of the table and really like how it looks. I added my white plates, another napkin and a small speckled egg to each place-setting.

I really liked how this turned out!

Love these speckled eggs!

Someone is watching!!

I used a galvanized tray with rope handles in the center of the the table. I love using trays, because they contain everything, plus they can easily be moved if needed.

The centerpiece

Haley says I usually add to much stuff to my displays, so I tried to keep it really simple. I added white tulips (faux, because I couldn’t find the real thing!), eggs and a nest, a white bird in a cloche and my signature starfish.

Simplicity!

A little touch of the beach!

I hope you enjoyed this mini tour as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Do you decorate your table for the seasons too? I would love to hear what you do to decorate for spring!

Pin Art

March 12, 2015March 12, 20154 Comments

Well…I’m bringing you another craft that I found on Pinterest. Today, I’m bringing you some pin art.

And I don’t mean using pens, I used push pins. I’m going to give you a brief description of how I did it and what I made from my pin art.

Items Needed

Black Poster board

Push Pins (they can be gold or silver depending on what you want)

A Pencil

An Exacto Knife

I started by cutting the poster board to the size I wanted. Originally I wanted my board to be certain size to fit inside a frame. But, because of the absence of an exacto knife in my apartment, I had to use scissors…Not the best choice for trying to cut a poster board. So, in my failed attempt, I tried something else.

A wonderful kitchen knife!

I decided to change my plans for the size of the board. I measured the poster board and cut it into three equal 10 inch by 20 inch pieces. And using my handy dandy kitchen knife, I cut the boards to use for my projects.

I then text some friends to ask them for a word or phrase that was inspirational to them. I got some responses and was then able to actually start the project.

To start the next part, I drew on the poster board with a pencil to get my design on the board. Don’t be afraid to erase and try again if you don’t like how it looked. I also wrote in cursive to make the word or phrase more elegant.

And now the pinning begins! I bought a box of 300 gold tacks from the Dollar Tree to get started. I slowly put the pins along the pencil lines that I drew to get the pins where I wanted. Also, if you don’t like where the pins are placed, take them out carefully and replace them where you can’t see the hole you first made.

Now, inevitably, you will run out of tacks. Fortunately, 300 tacks only cost $1, so it wasn’t too expensive.

And…here are some of the finished products!

This was created for my friend and co-worker Jessica who found inspiration in this Norman Vaughan quote.

This one was for one of my roommates, Bailey. It is now hanging above her window.

My roommate Lydia loved this simple word that inspires her everyday.

I had pins left over, so I found this quote in Google about friendship and decided to make this for my apartment living room.

Now…you may notice that I didn’t make one for myself…and my last roommate still hasn’t told me her word or phrase. But I had more fun making these for other people and not myself. Now if only my roommate Hannah will tell me her word or phrase so I can create some artwork for her!

Do you have a word or phrase that is inspirational to you that you would make artwork out of? Let us know in the comments below!

March Organization-Part 3-Hallway Closet

March 9, 20155 Comments

Hi all! I thought I would share our third post about organization today. I actually had this done for February, but then Lauren decided to post about her fabric, which you can see here , and our first project here, and I didn’t want to bore you all with our messiness! It’s pretty warm here in Central California, so I won’t be needing my scarves and gloves anymore this year, but I didn’t have a good way to find the one I wanted or an easy way to put them away. Pretty soon, it became a jumbled mess! This is the closet in the hallway. It stores our coats, vacuum, wrapping paper (some day, I want to come up with a place to put a wrapping station), other misc. stuff, and my scarves and gloves.

Not too easy to find the scarf I want!

Haley had cleaned out her closed a few weeks ago and gave me this shoe organizer. At the time, I wasn’t sure what I could use it for, but it was such a nice bag, that I kept it and hoped inspiration would hit! Sure enough! While trying to pull out a scarf one morning, I thought, “This is ridiculous! There has to be a better way! Wait, the shoe bag from Haley might work!” I can’t believe it took me years to figure out that there was an easy solution.

First, I removed everything off the door, including the old hanging rack. I had some overdoor hangers, so I didn’t have to make any holes in the door, but you can just as easily hammer in a couple of nails or put in some screws. I hung the shoe organizer and I started with the gloves and mittens and put them in the top pockets. Then I took each scarf, rolled it up and placed it in a pocket. I also had a few of the small nylon backpacks that I added to a few spaces.

Lauren knitted this blue one for me!

Love these colors!

Tassels!

And that’s it! Pretty easy and it didn’t take very long at all! Now everything is put away for the year and will be ready for next winter season. What are some of the ways you stay organized with your winter wear?