Ch Ch Changes!

One of my favorite things about keeping up with a blog is having the creative freedom to do whatever I want with and to it. So I'm working on making some changes to the way the blog looks. Bear with me, just having some fun.

Celebrating!

Founts Used - Sunshine In My Soul, Quicksand & Georgia

Thai Inspired Turkey Lettuce Wraps

You guys, I want to preface this post with the proclamation that my husband is a wiz in the kitchen. His ability to turn out rock-star meals should no longer blow my mind, but it does. He's just so creative.

We had some leftover turkey loin in the fridge and he decided to shred it and make some Thai inspired deliciousness that we could use for lettuce wraps. He found a few recipes to gather inspiration and then totally just went for it! Here was the result ......

Fonts Used - Sunshine In My Soul & Georgia

They were so so good! And he made them in basically no time.

Recipe:

Ingredients 

- 1lb of ground turkey, cooked (we used leftover turkey loin)

- Lettuce (romaine, iceberg, etc. your choice!)

- 1 cup, carrots, shredded

- 3tbs of cilantro, chopped 

- 3tbs of almond butter

- Juice from 1/2 a lime

- 2-3 green onions (your flavor preference)

- 1 small jalapeno, chopped (add more if you're into it)

- 1tbs garlic, minced

- 1tbs olive oil

- 1tbs sesame oil

Directions

Heat both oils together in a skillet. Add garlic and onion and let cook for about 1 minute. Then add almond butter. Let it cook until smooth. This will create your base sauce. Next add carrots and the jalapeno and let cook for about 1 minute. Finally add your ground turkey and let it all cook together for another 1-2 minutes. Turn of your stove, add lime juice and cilantro and mix. Season with salt and pepper if desired (we thought it was fine without it). Scoop onto lettuce cups and serve!

Let me know if you try them! I want to know how they turn out for others. The recipe is a bit of a guess as he just adds as he pleases, but it should be pretty close! However, it does give you some freedom to play, which is what this recipe is all about.

BONUS: Ways to shake up the dish (via, my hubs)
- Add fish sauce and/or soy sauce for more of an asian flavor
- Use red pepper flakes or siracha instead of jalapeno for an intense spicy kick
- Make with peanut butter instead of almond butter

Well thanks for reading!
Bye friends.

Bye, Google Reader. Helloooo, Feedly.

Well, I hadn't been keeping up with my blogs lately .... I've been mildly preoccupied with being unemployed .... so when I went to sign on to my google reader the other day and found that it was NO LONGER A THING, I panicked. BUT, they were kind enough to suggest other options, and I went with Feedly.

I'm all about easy to figure out and easy to use. I've only been on Feedly for a couple of days but I am liking it overall. I haven't utilized all that it can do yet, and I don't really know if I'll need to, I just want all my blogs in one place and this does that for me. You can use your gmail info to log in, so you don't have to create a new profile if you don't want to. And the lay out is clean, well designed, and easy to work with.

So, thank you Feedly, for being there for me when Google Reader no longer could be.

What readers do you guys use? AND bigger question, what blogs do you read? I realized recently that there is whole world of blogs out there that I don't read and should .... so I am open to suggestions! Leave a comment with your personal favorites.

Hello My Name Is Unemployed?

So, I've been thinking a bit about self worth lately. What all goes into it? Where does it come from? And, unfortunately, I feel like it rarely comes from the right place.

Recently, I've been finding a lot of my self worth in my current employment status. I am unemployed. And everyday I wake up, open my computer, and apply to as many jobs as I can. Once I've completed enough to make me feel accomplished and productive, I close my computer and relax for about 2 minutes, then I start excessively checking the email on my phone.

As the day progresses, I start feeling worse and worse about myself, no responses must mean I'm no good, right?

Wrong.

But it's not easy to remember that. And after almost 2 months of this, it's almost impossible to remember that.  And that's just silly.

Why am I putting so much power in the hands of these employers? A power that they probably have zero idea that they have (nor do they want). It's not fair to them and it's not fair to me (or to us, I can't be the only person guilty of this, right?)

I have made being unemployed my whole identity to myself. Job descriptions are constantly telling me how qualified I am. At what? Life? No, Hayley, just that position, calm down.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, I've decided to no longer base my self worth on my unemployment, because I am confident that the right opportunity will come my way soon enough, and I want to be just as happy now as I will be then.

So, to all my fellow unemployees; we are fighting the good fight, soldier on, keep the faith, and trust that you're still awesome.

BONUS: How to get through unemployment...
1. Learn something new - I've been learning to sew and I made a skirt!
2. Write about it - I mean, why not. It can get emotional. Start a journal and make it funny, like pretend unemployment is a deserted island and you're stuck on it.
3. Read the book "How To Cope With Unemployment (Without Going Crazy)." - I haven't, but I probably should.
4. Better your self-branding - Here's an article to help you that.
5. Work out - Is this one obvious? Because I have yet to take it on.

Ok. Thanks for reading.
Bye friends.

More food and a hike.

Oh what's that? You want to know more about the wonderful food we're having up here? Oh ok.......

First up we have The Yard House which is located along the infamous 16th Street Mall. We went on a Friday night while "Make Music Denver" was going on so it was decently crowded, but we managed to beat the rush by getting there around 5. That way we were also able enjoy happy hour which is 3-6 M-F!
Alright here are the goods ....

My drink: The Hawaiian Mule (pineapple infused vodka, ginger beer & mint) I love moscow mules and pineapple so this was a wonderful treat for me. But unfortunately it gave me acid reflux because apparently that's a thing for me now......

Whatever. It was still really delicious.

Then we had some spinach cheese dip with pita chips as an appetizer .... really yummy, but really rich! I would have liked it better with tortilla chips. Pita chips are just too much sometimes.

And then we shared a margherita pizza (also on happy hour), which was SO GOOD. Tomatoes, garlic, & basil. Yum, yum, & yum. And not to mention beautiful.

Next up is Doghouse Tavern. This place is really close to our apartment and kinda tucked away. It has a really fun vibe and really good food.

J got the Philly Cheesestake and loved it.

I got a GIANT HOT DOG.

It was great and I was able to take half it home. We both got the homemade potato chips which are hit or miss at some restaurants, but here they were a hit!

We made it to happy hour here as well, but coors and coors light drafts are always $2 so that makes every hour happy hour, right?

And finally .... this has nothing to do with food but .... we went on our first hike! The hike led us to Maxwell Falls. It was 2 miles there and 2 miles back. It was a "moderate" level hike, but a lot of it was uphill, so for me if was reasonably difficult.

Here are some photos! It was so beautiful and the weather was great.

^^ At this point I was wishing this was the falls. It wasn't, but this was my favorite spot on the hike!

^^ The falls! We're actually at the top of it. We weren't sure how to be at the bottom of it, so this is the only picture we have of Maxwell Falls, ha. We ate lunch up here though, and that was pretty cool. 

^^ what?

I'm hoping to make hiking a regular activity for us. It's a fun way to get exercise because you kinda forget that you're getting exercise.

Anyways, that's all for now. I hope ya'll never get tired of posts about food because I can't guarantee they'll stop. I should probably do a craft or something, huh? We'll see.......

Thanks for reading!
Bye friends.

Cafe 180

On a simple Tuesday afternoon, Jonathan recommended we venture down Broadway street to find a place for lunch. He had driven through there while I was and Texas and noticed it's appeal. I love any chance to get out of the apartment so I was down.

We drove for awhile and noticed quite a few places that looked good, but decided on Cafe 180 (generally you put cafe in a restaurant title and I'm like "YUP"). 

Anyways ...

Obvi, I looked it up on yelp first. 

I came across quite a few comments that mentioned "donations" and "non-profit" .... so I assumed we were going to a place with some pretty awesome values. I was into it. 

When we arrived and ordered, the sweet lady behind the counter asked if we had been there before, we said no and she started explaining that they were a non-profit, I mentioned that we had read up on it a bit and she then asked us how much we would like to pay........ I looked at J, with confusion and told the lady that we would like to pay for our meals and then one more (this was an option I had seen on the website).  She then again asked how much we wanted to pay.... and this went on until we determined that we would pay seven dollars/meal and therefore $21. The lady seemed so appreciative and we were glad to give to a good cause, but I was still confused as to what had just happened. 

After a minute of looking around and reading some signs, we realized that Cafe 180 serves anyone and everyone, regardless of whether or not they can pay for their meal. The options for paying are (1) however much you would normally pay or can pay, (2) pay nothing and work one hour in their kitchen, or to (3) pay however much you want and then a little more to "pay-it-forward." 

YOU GUYS...this place opens their doors to absolutely anyone, they will not turn you away if you cannot afford a meal. And they even give people the option to work for their meal if they feel so compelled. This place is doing their part to help the homeless/unemployed/low income people of Denver, and I was so humbled by the expereince. 

You can tell that there are regulars there, those who they expect to see at least once a day, and the people at Cafe 180 welcome them with open arms. 

And everyone eats together! Whether you're taking a lunch break from your 9-5 well paying office job or if you just walked 10 miles from a park downtown to get what may be your only meal for the day ... you will all eat together, and that is a beautiful beautiful thing. 

Oh, the food? Yeah it was great. I had the southwestern chicken wrap and J had the meatball sandwhich. Both were delicious, and there are other options I can't wait to try. Not to mention we were able to sit on the patio and enjoy the gorgeous Colorado weather (one of my new favorite things to do!).

Places like this leave me inspired and longing to do my part. To acknowledge that not everyone has it as good as I do, which means I have a social responsibility to help when I can. 

What are some other unique and truly inspiring non-profits that you have heard about? There are so many interesting ideas are out there. I love seeing people use their talents to help people! 

I pray that this post did this place justice. It is just so wonderful and I get lost in my words when I feel passionate about things. 

Well, thanks for reading!

Bye friends. 

p.s. Visit Cafe 180's website!